Montenegrins began voting Sunday in a presidential election amid a sluggish economy and high unemployment in the tiny Adriatric EU-candidate country.

Incumbent Filip Vujanovic, a close ally of veteran Montenegrin leader Milo Djukanovic, is tipped to win a third term. He faces former foreign minister Miodrag Lekic, who has managed to get the main opposition groups to back his candidacy.

Vujanovic has promised voters to focus on strengthening Montenegro as a "democratic developed country" in order to boost its efforts to join the European Union and NATO.

His rival Lekic, however, has made the fight against corruption and organised crime his priority, two issues seen as the main obstacles for Montenegro to speed up its European integration.

Brussels opened EU accession talks with Montenegro last June, but the European Commission noted that Podgorica should do more to uphold the rule of law and crack down on organised crime and corruption.

The election comes as the country of 632,000 people -- where the average monthly salary is about 480 euros ($615) -- struggles with an unemployment rate of 20 percent.

The public debt has reached 51 percent of gross domestic product in the former Yugoslav republic that gained independence from its decades-long partner Serbia in 2006.

Montenegro's relatively undiversified economy relies heavily on foreign investment which drove an economic boom between 2006 and 2008.

However both Vujanovic and Lekic -- the only two candidates in the race for a five-year mandate -- have stayed clear of promises of a fast economic recovery.

Although opinion polls gave Vujanovic a 10-percent lead over Lekic, voter turnout is expected to be only around 40 percent, far lower than in previous elections. That is mostly due to voters' apathy and discontent with the slow recovery. Some 511,000 people are eligible to vote.

Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and are due to close 13 hours later. First unofficial results are expected by midnight.