# 2018 Montenegrin presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Montenegro on 15 April 2018. Former Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, leader of the ruling DPS was elected as new President of Montenegro in the first round.

## Electoral system

The president is elected using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a run-off is held two weeks later. In order to submit their candidacy to the State Electoral Commission, potential candidates needed to collect 7,993 signatures. President is elected every five years, and is eligible for two terms.

## Campaign

The incumbent president, Filip Vujanović, was ineligible for re-election, having already served three terms as president.
President of the ruling DPS, Milo Đukanović, who was touted by the media as the election favourite, initially rejected the possibility of running for president.
In March 2018, Đukanović confirmed that he would run for president, supported by DPS' coalition partner, the Liberal Party, as well as other subjects in the government; Social Democrats, Croatian Civic Initiative, the New Democratic Power, Democratic Union of Albanians and the Bosniak Party.
After a series of unsuccessful attempts by the entire opposition to nominate a common candidate, it was clear that the opposition would have more candidates. On 9 March 2018, the presidency of right-wing Democratic Front alliance decides to support the candidacy of independent candidate Mladen Bojanić, which was previously proposed by the centrist Democratic Montenegro and the centre-left United Reform Action. Presidency of the newly-formed centre-right United Montenegro has decided to support the previously announced candidacy of the party leader Goran Danilović, later Presidency of centre-left Social Democratic Party has consistently endorsed candidacy of MP Draginja Vuksanović, making her first ever female presidential candidate, with support of centre-right DEMOS party led by Miodrag Lekić, common opposition presidential candidate at the previous election.
From the rest of the opposition have unsuccessfully called upon the SDP and Danilović's United Montenegro party to withdraw their candidacies and support independent Bojanić as an opposition common candidate, which they have refused. From SDP replied that Bojanić was not a completely independent candidate, alluding to his alleged support for the Democratic Front list for the 2016 parliamentary election. On 21 March Danilović ultimately withdrew his candidacy and supported Bojanić's candidature.

## Candidates

Montenegrin State Electoral Commission (DIK) confirmed seven candidates. Candidate numbers were decided using a random draw on 28 March.
| # | Candidate | Party | Details |
| 1 | Marko Milačić | PCG | Journalist, president of the extra-parliamentary party True Montenegro |
| 2 | Mladen Bojanić | n-p | Independent, former MP. Supported by DF, DCG, SNP, URA and UCG |
| 3 | Hazbija Kalač | SPP | President of the extra-parliamentary Justice and Reconciliation Party |
| 4 | Vasilije Miličković | n-p | Businessman, independent, supported by the extra-parliamentary PUPI |
| 5 | Dobrilo Dedeić | SL | President of the extra-parliamentary Serb List, leader of Serb Coalition. |
| 6 | Draginja Vuksanović | SDP | Professor of law, MP of the Social Democratic Party, supported by DEMOS |
| 7 | Milo Đukanović | DPS | Former President and six-time PM. Leader of the DPS; government candidate. |

## Opinion polls

Poll results are listed in the table below in reverse chronological order, showing the most recent first, and using the date the survey's fieldwork was done, as opposed to the date of publication. If such date is unknown, the date of publication is given instead. The highest percentage figure in each polling survey is displayed in bold, and the background shaded in the leading party's colour. In the instance that there is a tie, then no figure is shaded. The lead column on the right shows the percentage-point difference between the two candidates with the highest figures.
| Date | Polling source | Đukanović | Bojanić | Vuksanović | Others | Lead |
| 29 March 2018 | CeDem | 50.6 | 35.5 | 7.9 | 5.9 | 15.1 |

## Electoral debates

| Date Time | Broadcaster | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates | Candidates |
| Date Time | Broadcaster | Milačić | Bojanić | Kalač | Miličković | Dedeić | Vuksanović | Đukanović |
| 13 April 20:00 | TVCG1 | P | P | P | P | A | P | A |
| 12 April 20:00 | Vijesti | NI | P | NI | NI | NI | P | A |
| 30 March 20:00 | TVCG1 | P | P | P | P | P | P | A |
| P Invited/Present  NI Non-invitee  A Absent invitee |||||||||||||||||||||

## Results

Milo Đukanović, candidate of the DPS-led coalition, won the election in the first round, winning 53.9% of the vote. Independent opposition candidate Mladen Bojanić came in second with 33.4% of the popular vote, while Draginja Vuksanović (SDP) was third with 8.2%.
| Candidate | Candidate | Party | Votes | % |
| | Milo Đukanović | Democratic Party of Socialists | 180,272 | 53.90 |
| | Mladen Bojanić | Independent | 111,711 | 33.40 |
| | Draginja Vuksanović | Social Democratic Party | 27,441 | 8.20 |
| | Marko Milačić | True Montenegro | 9,405 | 2.81 |
| | Hazbija Kalač | Justice and Reconciliation Party | 2,677 | 0.80 |
| | Vasilije Miličković | Independent | 1,593 | 0.48 |
| | Dobrilo Dedeić | Serb List | 1,363 | 0.41 |
| Total | Total | Total | 334,462 | 100.00 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Valid votes | 334,462 | 98.24 |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 5,997 | 1.76 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 340,459 | 100.00 |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 532,599 | 63.92 |
| Source: DIK |||||

### By municipality

| Municipality | Đukanović | Đukanović | Bojanić | Bojanić | Vuksanović | Vuksanović | Milačić | Milačić | Kalač | Kalač | Miličković | Miličković | Dedeić | Dedeić |
| Municipality | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % | Votes | % |
| Andrijevica | 2,048 | 66.66 | 901 | 29.33 | 59 | 1.92 | 44 | 1.43 | 1 | 0.0 | 2 | 0.07 | 17 | 0.6 |
| Bar | 11,370 | 53.93 | 5,580 | 26.47 | 3,137 | 14.88 | 688 | 3.26 | 119 | 0.56 | 97 | 0.46 | 91 | 0.43 |
| Berane | 7,192 | 46.61 | 7,325 | 47.48 | 440 | 2.85 | 336 | 2.18 | 42 | 0.27 | 22 | 0.14 | 72 | 0.47 |
| Bijelo Polje | 14,386 | 58.40 | 7,409 | 30.08 | 2,121 | 8.61 | 336 | 1.41 | 256 | 1.04 | 39 | 0.16 | 74 | 0.30 |
| Budva | 4,178 | 43.29 | 3,942 | 40.85 | 1,021 | 10.58 | 361 | 3.74 | 8 | 0.08 | 95 | 0.98 | 46 | 0.48 |
| Cetinje | 4,659 | 55.96 | 1,860 | 22.34 | 1,510 | 18.14 | 169 | 2.03 | 30 | 0.36 | 79 | 0.95 | 18 | 0.21 |
| Danilovgrad | 4,773 | 52.94 | 3,339 | 37.04 | 581 | 6.44 | 230 | 2.55 | 13 | 0.14 | 31 | 0.34 | 48 | 0.53 |
| Gusinje | 1,331 | 85.54 | 56 | 3.59 | 118 | 7.58 | 7 | 0.45 | 43 | 2.76 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.06 |
| Herceg Novi | 5,983 | 41.17 | 6,182 | 42.54 | 1,049 | 7.22 | 999 | 6.87 | 39 | 0.27 | 118 | 0.81 | 162 | 1.11 |
| Kolašin | 2,201 | 47.32 | 1,963 | 42.20 | 322 | 6.92 | 117 | 2.51 | 9 | 0.19 | 16 | 0.34 | 23 | 0.49 |
| Kotor | 4,766 | 46.47 | 3,949 | 38.51 | 1,017 | 9.92 | 336 | 3.27 | 32 | 0.31 | 86 | 0.84 | 69 | 0.67 |
| Mojkovac | 2,839 | 54.18 | 2,106 | 40.19 | 178 | 3.39 | 78 | 1.49 | 7 | 0.13 | 11 | 0.21 | 21 | 0.4 |
| Nikšić | 22,791 | 55.77 | 13,849 | 33.89 | 2,773 | 6.78 | 1,116 | 2.73 | 71 | 0.17 | 135 | 0.33 | 129 | 0.31 |
| Petnjica | 2,382 | 83.46 | 80 | 2.80 | 234 | 8.19 | 10 | 0.35 | 142 | 4.97 | 2 | 0.07 | 4 | 0.14 |
| Plav | 2,829 | 66.45 | 707 | 16.61 | 486 | 11.41 | 72 | 1.69 | 146 | 3.43 | 7 | 0.16 | 10 | 0.23 |
| Plužine | 542 | 29.44 | 1,183 | 64.25 | 53 | 2.88 | 41 | 2.22 | 2 | 0.1 | 9 | 0.49 | 11 | 0.59 |
| Pljevlja | 9,477 | 51.89 | 7,721 | 42.28 | 576 | 3.15 | 294 | 1.61 | 83 | 0.45 | 26 | 0.14 | 84 | 0.46 |
| Podgorica | 54,532 | 50.90 | 38,752 | 36.17 | 8,717 | 8.13 | 3,698 | 3.45 | 327 | 0.30 | 707 | 0.66 | 386 | 0.36 |
| Rožaje | 8,454 | 76.56 | 343 | 3.1 | 986 | 8.93 | 22 | 0.2 | 1,219 | 11.39 | 6 | 0.05 | 12 | 0.1 |
| Šavnik | 804 | 58.90 | 497 | 36.41 | 33 | 2.41 | 25 | 1.83 | 2 | 0.14 | 1 | 0.07 | 3 | 0.22 |
| Tivat | 3,907 | 54.04 | 2,070 | 28.63 | 850 | 11.75 | 270 | 3.73 | 21 | 0.29 | 61 | 0.84 | 51 | 0.7 |
| Ulcinj | 7,353 | 77.87 | 820 | 8.68 | 1,100 | 11.65 | 71 | 0.75 | 54 | 0.57 | 32 | 0.34 | 12 | 0.1 |
| Žabljak | 1,161 | 47.58 | 950 | 38.93 | 55 | 2.25 | 51 | 2.1 | 5 | 0.2 | 7 | 0.3 | 11 | 0.45 |
| Totals | 180,272 | 53.90 | 111,711 | 33.40 | 27,441 | 8.20 | 9,405 | 2.81 | 2,677 | 0.80 | 1,593 | 0.48 | 1,363 | 0.41 |
| Source: Vijesti |||||||||||||||

## Aftermath

In its June 2018 report, issued after the presidential election, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, called for election reforms in Montenegro, and for more integrity, impartiality and professionalism in election administration.