Montenegro goes to the polls for early general elections

542,468 registered voters will be able to vote tomorrow for the early general elections announced by former President Milo Djukanovic in order to eliminate the crisis that is being experienced as a result of the lack of confidence vote of the government in Montenegro, led by Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic .

In the sixth general election to be held in independent Montenegro, 15 coalitions and political parties will compete to enter the country’s 81-seat parliament.

While the pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), one of the strongest parties in Montenegro, participated in tomorrow’s elections for the first time without Djukonavic, who was the party’s leader for many years and resigned from the party’s presidency in April. 6, while the traditional partners of the DPS in this election were the Liberal Party of Montenegro (LP), which participates in the “For the Future of Montenegro” alliance with the Albanian alliance and the Social Democrats (SD).

THE EUROPEAN MOVEMENT WILL COMPETE FOR THE FIRST TIME

The European Now Movement (PES), led by Jakov Milatovic, who won the second round of the country’s presidential elections on April 2, is taking part in the general elections for the first time. After Milatovic’s success in the presidential election, the polls show that the PES is ahead, but it does not achieve the percentage to be alone in power.
Other lists to compete in the election are the following:

Bosnian Party (BS), Croatian People’s Initiative (HGI), Justice for All, Socialist People’s Party and DEMOS Coalition, People’s Coalition, Union of Albanians, Return for Safe Montenegro Coalition, Coalition for Change, We Can Do It for Montenegro, Coalition together, Social Democratic Party, Democratic Party and URA Popular Movement Coalition and Albanian Forum.

Bosniaks, Albanians and Croats in the country are believed to once again play a decisive role in Montenegro’s European Union (EU) path, which has stalled since 2020.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS FALLEN

It is noted that the power of the DPS and Djukanovic, who has been in power for 30 years, is gradually declining after the last general election held on August 30, 2020 in the country.

After the coalition government led by former Montenegrin Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic failed to win a vote of confidence, the ethnic Albanian Abazovic took over the new government. The process of forming a new government, which began when the government of Prime Minister Abazovic did not receive a vote of confidence on August 20, 2022, turned into a political crisis in the country.

The government headed by Abazovic, which sparked controversy with the “fundamental agreement” signed with Patriarch Porfiria of the Serbian Orthodox Church to give the Serbian Church “official status” in the country, fell as a result of a vote in the Montenegrin parliament.

In this process, the country’s pro-Serbian parties sent the name of Miodrag Lekic to then-President Djukanovic to form the new government, while Djukanovic refused to give Lekic the task of forming the government because he did not meet the necessary conditions.

Djukanovic announced that he decided to hold early elections just before the presidential election, as a result of the political crisis that arose with the fall of the government in Montenegro, as a result of the inability to form a new government. After losing the presidential election, Djukanovic resigned from the DPS, where he was the leader for many years.

A COALITION GOVERNMENT WAITING

In Montenegro, where polls show that no party or coalition can form a government alone, it is said that the possibility of an unstable new government may put another obstacle on the road to the EU, from which the country is moving further and further away.

Voters, on the other hand, want a government without a “crisis” and a country that advances steadily towards the EU, after the early general elections held after successive governments that failed to get votes of confidence.

According to the electoral law of Montenegro, where general elections are held every 4 years, it is necessary to pass the electoral threshold of 3% to enter the national parliament.

On the other hand, according to the census conducted in Montenegro in 2011, 72.07 percent of the country’s population is Orthodox, 19.11 percent Muslim, and 3.44 percent Catholic. The country has the largest number of Montenegrins and Serbs, followed by Bosniaks, Albanians, Romanians and Croats, and other smaller ethnic groups. (AA)