Presidential elections were held in Montenegro on 19 March 2023. Long-ruling incumbent president Milo Đukanović was eligible for re-election.Đurović raspisala: Predsjednički izbori 19. marta , RTCG, 16 January 2023 Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round vote was held on 2 April. In the first round, Đukanović, leader of the populist DPS, received 35%, coming first. Jakov Milatović, candidate of the newly formed centrist Europe Now! movement, running on an anti-corruption platform, outperformed the polls, gaining 29% of the votes and faced Đukanović in the second round. Andrija Mandić, one of the leaders of the right-wing populist DF secured 19% of the votes, finishing third in the first round.Po preliminarnim rezultatima Đukanović i Milatović u drugom krugu, RTCG, 19 March 2023Đukanović i Milatović idu u drugi krug, Vijesti, 19 March 2023 The second round runoff resulted in Milatović defeating Milo Đukanović in a landslide, becoming the first elected president not being a member of the Đukanović's DPS since introduction of the multi-party system in 1990, winning roughly 60% of the popular vote. It was the first time a runoff vote was held since the 1997 election, making it first presidential runoff since Montenegro gained independence in 2006, also the first election since 1997 where an incumbent president actively seeking reelection was denied a second term.Jakov Milatović ubjedljivo pobijedio: Dobio 60,1 odsto glasova, Đukanović 39,9 %, RTCG, 2 April 2023Milatović ubjedljivo pobijedio Đukanovića, Vijesti, 2 April 2023
The presidential election was followed by the 2023 Montenegrin parliamentary election, held on 11 June 2023.President Of Montenegro Dissolves Parliament, Clearing Way For Early Elections, Radio Free Europe, 16 March 2023Montenegro's president dissolves parliament as election nears, Al Jazeera, 16 March 2023Montenegro: President Milo Đukanović decided to dissolve the parliament, Europe Elects, 17 March 2023 The Europe Now! movement won a plurality of seats while the DPS led Together! coalition came in second after losing seats.
Background Milo Đukanović, the leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), ruled Montenegro for more than three decades either as prime minister or as president. Although seen as pro-Western, during his lengthy time in power he has been involved in numerous corruption scandals and affairs, and many wanted to see him out of politics. The previous presidential election held in 2018 was won by Đukanović, with 53.9% of the vote in the first round. The incumbent president, Đukanović was eligible for re-election in 2023, since his first presidential term (1998–2003) was served before the successful 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
The 2023 Presidential election was held amid the deepest political crisis Montenegro has faced since its independence from Serbia in 2006. The desire to oust long-ruling Đukanović and DPS brought together three ideologically diverse opposition alliances, varying from conservative and pro-Russian to pro-Western and civic, who tightly won the 2020 parliamentary election to form the first ruling coalition that excluded DPS. However, their coalition was marred with instability, and the government led by Zdravko Krivokapić fell in February 2022, to be replaced by a short-lived minority government of Dritan Abazović which lasted until August 2022. Parliamentary crisis resulted in vacancy or caretaker status of several major state institutions, including the caretaker status of government cabinet and state prosecution and, most notably, vacancy in the Constitutional Court. As the anti-DPS parliamentary majority fractured, Đukanović and his party were widely expected to return to the power.
Several candidates ran in opposition to Đukanović: Jakov Milatović was an independent member of the technocratic cabinet, while Andrija Mandić's right-wing populist Democratic Front was among the parties that backed it in the parliament. Apart from the strong desire to remove the DPS and its leader from power, the members of the coalition had little in common and were unable to carry out reforms. Local elections held in several municipalities during 2021 and 2022 showed that DPS was losing popular support. The loss of the DPS' majority in the capital city Podgorica was seen as a punishment for Đukanovićs rather counter-productive role in the ongoing political crisis in the country. Elections were held as the country is gripped by a year-long political deadlock marked by no-confidence votes in two separate governments and a row between parliamentary majority and Đukanović over appointing a new prime minister-designate. According to media outlets, Đukanović, Milatović, and Mandić were seen as the strongest of the seven candidates, and the only ones with a real chance of getting to the second round runoff. While the office of president is largely ceremonial in Montenegro, the 2023 presidential election was seen by many as barometer for the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, which Đukanović scheduled for June 2023, dissolving the parliament few days before the first round of presidential elections in which he ran for his third term as head of state.Montenegro's long-ruling Djukanovic launches bid for third presidential term, Reuters, 25 February 2023Milo Djukanovic: Election May Decide Fate of Montenegrin Ex-Strongman, BalkanInsight, 14 March 2023A fresh face and dirty games in Montenegro's presidential election, IntelliNews, 16 March 2023The identity question as a sticking point, 17 March 2023Predsjednički izbori u Crnoj Gori: Ko će u drugi krug?, DW
Electoral system The president of Montenegro is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff is held two weeks later.Presidential Elections European Elections Database. Retrieved 24 January 2023. A new president is elected every five years, and only is eligible for two terms. In order to submit their candidacy to the State Electoral Commission, potential candidates need to collect 8,101 signatures.Lista predsjedničkih kandidata do 3. marta, potreban 8.101 potpis , RTCG, 19 January 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
Campaign First round The incumbent president Milo Đukanović, who is also leader of the largest parliamentary party DPS, was eligible for re-election. Neither Đukanović nor his party announced to the public whether he planned to run in the elections, while Đukanović ultimately did not announce his candidacy until 24 February, two days before the deadline for submission of candidacies. Previously, the potential candidacy of the outgoing mayor of Podgorica, Ivan Vuković, and former prime minister Duško Marković was also advocated within the Đukanović's party.Održan sastanak lidera opozicije, Vijesti, 8 February 2023. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to nominate a common candidate with DPS and the other parties within the self-labelled sovereignist bloc, on 9 February the Social Democratic Party (SDP) decided to nominate its candidate, MP Draginja Vuksanović, who was already the party's candidate in the previous elections when she unexpectedly won over 8% of voter support. The SDP initially advocated joint support for the candidacy of Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, the ambassador of Montenegro to the United Nations, or some other non-compromised independent candidate, while the minor LP and SD parties were ready to unconditionally support the candidate selected by the DPS. Volio bih da predsjednički kandidat bude Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, 7 February 2023NEIZVJESNO DA LI ĆE SE KANDIDOVATI ĐUKANOVIĆ , Adria TV, 22 January 2023 The presidential elections were preceded by the 2022 Montenegrin local elections, which resulted in poor results for Đukanović's party, losing power in 11 of the 14 municipalities where the elections were held, including in the capital Podgorica, for the first time since the 1990s. Đukanović's DPS also lost the mayoral posts in the vast majority of municipalities in the local elections of 2020, 2021, and 2022 for the first time since its foundation, which was accompanied by a drop in the party's popular support; this is why many of the upcoming elections were called the "most uncertain since Montenegrin independence".
A member of the ruling coalition, the SNP initially proposed the leader of the DEMOS and the candidate in the 2013 Montenegrin presidential election, Miodrag Lekić, as the joint candidate of the parties of the parliamentary majority, which the other parties eventually refused.Lekić izlazi na crtu Đukanoviću?, Dan, 30 November 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.Lekić pobjeđuje Đukanovića na predstojećim predsjedničkim izborima , Adria TV, 5 December 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2023. At the end of January, the right-wing populist Democratic Front (DF) announced that it would nominate its informal leader Andrija Mandić, who was a candidate back in the 2008 Montenegrin presidential election. In February, the SNP decided to support the candidacy of Mandić, abandoning the proposal to run with their own candidate, while Democratic Montenegro (DCG) initially called for common candidate of self-labeled centrist bloc along with United Reform Action (URA) and the newly founded Europe Now! movement, finally deciding to highlight the candidacy of their leader Aleksa Bečić. Prime minister Dritan Abazović's URA party announced that it would not have its own candidate, eventually deciding to support a Bečić candidacy.Abazović: Bečićeva pobjeda neupitna , 16 March 2023