Montenegro's ruling coalition has won the most votes in Sunday's parliamentary election.

An unofficial tally by CEMI, a non-government election monitoring group, shows the center-left Democratic Party of Socialists, led by veteran politician Milo Djukanovic, won 46 percent of the vote.

That gives them 39 out of 81 seats in the future parliament with 95 percent of the votes counted, forcing the DPS to turn to deputies for ethnic minorities to secure a majority.

The Democratic Front, the main opposition bloc, took only 21 percent of the vote, or 20 seats, followed by the pro-Serb Socialist People's Party with 10.5 percent, or nine seats.

The win for DPS extends their 20-year hold on power in the former Yugoslav republic.

Sunday's vote comes as Montenegro seeks membership in the European Union and battles a deep economic crisis.