Unofficial results: Montenegro pro-West ruling party wins

PODGORICA, Montenegro – Montenegro’s pro-West ruling party has won the most votes in the small Balkan country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, according to unofficial results, but without enough support to govern alone and assure the country’s chartered course into NATO and other Western institutions.

The tense election was marked by the arrest of 20 people suspected of planning politically motivated armed attacks after the polls closed in the vote during which Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic faced the toughest challenge yet to his quarter-century rule.

The independent CeMI election monitoring group said that with 100 percent of the vote counted, the Democratic Party of Socialists won 41 percent, while two opposition parties – the Democratic Front and the Key Coalition – have 20 and 11 percent respectively. The monitoring group used its own vote count at the polling stations.

Both the ruling party and the opposition claimed they have enough seats to form the country’s future government. They will have a tough time forming post-electoral coalitions with small groups that enter the 81-seat Parliament. The outcome of those negotiations will determine whether the state continues on its Western course or turns back to traditional ally Russia.

“A big power has moved against the small Montenegro, but we have succeeded,” Djukanovic said, referring to Russia and its open support of the opposition.