REUTERS - Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic claimed victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday, saying voters had backed his plans for EU entry talks.
 
Djukanovic's For A European Montenegro coalition was set to win 49 of the 81 seats in parliament, according to a preliminary count by pollster Strategic Marketing and the Podgorica-based CEMI election monitors.
 
"Voters have clearly opted to vote for a safe life, for economic prosperity and a European future," Djukanovic, flanked by ministers and senior politicians, told hundreds of cheering party activists in the government building in central Podgorica.
 
The results showed voters were confident the coalition would ensure Montenegro rode out the global economic crisis, he said, and a new government would be quickly formed to press ahead with its ambition to "soon become a member of the European family".
 
Djukanovic's coalition received 51 percent of the vote, the pollsters said on the basis of a representative sample of results from polling stations.
 
The opposition Socialist People's Party was second with 16.3 percent, while the New Serbian Democracy party took 8.9 percent, they added.
 
After 2006 elections, political parties agreed to hold the next vote by the end of 2009 but Djukanovic brought it forward, citing the need to have a mandate for EU accession talks.
 
Opposition parties said the coalition wanted to win re-election before the effects of the global recession worsened.
 
Andrija Mandic, head of the New Serbian Democracy party blamed the opposition's defeat on a fragmentation of votes.
 
"We warned people not to split their votes among small parties," he said in a live TV broadcast.
 

EU membership
 
Podgorica-based political analyst Drasko Djuranovic said the ruling coalition had won because the opposition was fragmented and voters had "trusted the current government's pledge it will lead them through the time of crisis".
 
"Europe will see this result as a sign of stability but the timing of our inevitable entry to the EU will depend on its readiness to enlarge," he said.
 
Djukanovic has dominated political life in the Adriatic country of 670,000 people for two decades and says he wants to win EU membership quickly after applying in December.
 
Montenegro's economy, especially the tourism sector, has grown robustly since 2006 when the country ended its loose union with Serbia. In common with much of the Balkans, it faces the threat of recession this year.
 
The main opposition parties, which all favour closer ties with Serbia, say Djukanovic will be unable to meet his promises to secure better living standards and EU membership.
 
They accuse him of failing to fight corruption and organised crime. Many voters see his commitment to EU membership as the best way to protect the country from economic crisis.
 
Balloting was monitored by 1,200 local and international observers.