Centre-left wins Montenegro vote: official results

(PODGORICA) - The ruling centre-left coalition is poised to stay in power in Montenegro as official results released Tuesday show it won Sunday's parliamentary vote.

According to the results-- released by the central electoral commission after all ballots were counted-- the coalition led by the Democratic Party of Socialists of veteran leader Milo Djukanovic fell just short of an absolute majority in the 81-seat parliament.

However Djukanovic, a five-time prime minister and former president, should have no trouble forming a government with his traditional allies in the smaller parties representing ethnic minorities, observers said. The new government will lead European Union entry talks for the tiny Balkans country which opened in June.

The centre-left grouping got 39 seats while the main opposition Democratic Front has 20 deputies. The opposition Socialist People's Party has nine seats while newcomers Positive Montenegro got seven seats.

The remaining six seats went to parties representing minorities with three deputees for the Bosniak Party, one deputy for the Croat minority while two Albanian parties also got a seat each.