Montenegrins headed to the polls Sunday to elect their next president in a vote that could see a young upstart unseat incumbent Milo Djukanovic, who has dominated the country’s political scene for decades. The outcome of the contest will likely determine the balance of power in the Balkan nation ahead of a snap parliamentary vote due in June, following months of gridlock after the government collapsed in August. Montenegro’s president, elected for a five-year term, has a mostly ceremonial position and most of the political power resides with the prime minister. Polls opened at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) local time and close at 8:00 pm. Unofficial results are expected late Sunday evening. The runoff comes two weeks after the first round, where Djukanovic beat back a range of opponents hoping to shake up the political scene, garnering 35 percent of the vote compared to 29 percent for his main challenger, Jakov Milatovic. However, analysts have largely favoured Milatovic to win the presidency, arguing the pro-European economist is likely to appeal to a large number of voters desperate for change after decades of rule by Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). “I’m absolutely convinced that I will become a new president of the country, that today the citizens of Montenegro will send the current president to the political past,” said Milatovic on Sunday before casting his vote. The DPS has been hit by repeated setbacks since the party suffered its first major defeat in the 2020 parliamentary elections. Since then, Montenegro has stumbled from crisis to crisis that has seen the collapse of two governments. Djukanovic, backed by former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, arrived at the helm of the former Yugoslav republic in 1991, when he was just 29. But as Serbia increasingly became an international pariah, Djukanovic pivoted West, broke ties with Belgrade and helped usher in Montenegro’s independence in 2006. Under the leadership of Djukanovic and his party, Montenegro joined NATO, kick-started the negotiating process for EU membership and moved away from Russia’s influence.