Vujanović's third candidacy was viewed controversial by many; the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the minor coalition partner of the DPS, threatened to end their coalition if Vujanovic "illegally" ran again and lodged an appeal to the Constitutional Court; SDP's leader Ranko Krivokapić and the Montenegrin president are long-time rivals, mainly due to Vujanović's moderate approaches to the country's national question, while Krivokapić maintains a more hardline nationalist approach.

[1] The opposition shared the ruling Social Democrats' viewpoint that Vujanović running for a third term was unconstitutional, adding that it was one of the representative elements of the DPS' authoritarian reign over Montenegro.

Experts expressed opinion that he would perhaps endure the fate of Serbia's former president Boris Tadić, who lost the election running for his third term in 2012.

[3] The opposition had decided to unite under a common candidate which would best represent individual differences; the leader of the Democratic Front (DF) opposition alliance that was formed under the basis of Miodrag Lekic as president and ran at the 2012 national elections based on that idea, ran as an independent candidate.

Prior to the official announcement of the results, both Filip Vujanović and Miodrag Lekić claimed to have won the election.