Montenegro run-off presidential election under way

Montenegrins went to the polls on Sunday in a run-off presidential election pitting incumbent Milo Djukanovic against a Western-educated economist pledging to lift the nation out of a crisis marked by no-confidence votes in two governments.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). First unofficial results by pollsters, based on a sample of the electorate, are expected about two hours later.

Djukanovic, 61, has dominated Montenegro as president or prime minister for 33 years, since the start of the collapse of the now-defunct federal Yugoslavia. He led Montenegro to independence from a state union with much larger Serbia in 2006 and to NATO membership in 2017. The country is also a candidate to join the European Union.

Opponents have long accused the former communist and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of corruption, ties with organized crime and running the small Adriatic republic as their fiefdom - allegations they deny.

Nikola Zarkovic, a student, said he hoped the vote would bring benefit to everyone in the country, which mainly relies on revenue from tourism along its scenic coast.

"The free and independent Montenegro will be victorious, as always," he said after voting in a school inside one of drab Communist-era apartment blocks in Podgorica.

Djukanovic's rival is Jakov Milatovic, 37, a former economy minister and the deputy head of the Europe Now movement that has pledged to curb graft, improve living standards and bolster ties with the European Union and fellow ex-Yugoslav republic Serbia.