Montenegro holds key snap parliamentary vote
Voters in the Western Balkan country will vote in snap elections to elect members to the 81-seat parliament.
Montenegro is holding early parliamentary elections, a vote that could provide indications of whether the small NATO member in the Balkans will overcome the deep political divisions and instability that have hampered its path to joining the European Union.
Fifteen coalitions and parties battle against each other as polls opened at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) and were expected to close at 20:00 (18:00 GMT). The first results are expected late Sunday evening.
More than 542,000 registered voters will determine the members of the 81-seat parliament in the sixth general election since the country transitioned to a multi-party system in 1990.
Since the deposition of former leader Milo Djukanovic in April, the political landscape in the Balkan country has been in turmoil.
Polls and analysts predict that the centrist Europe Now movement, led by financial expert Milojko Spajic and the current president, Jakov Milatovic, will most likely be the best voter, but will not have enough seats in parliament to form a new government on its own.
Spajic, 37, a former finance minister who introduced economic reforms in 2021, including increases in average wages, is now promising further salary increases and a seven-hour workday instead of the current eight hours.
“I am very interested in realizing the plan I presented to the citizens,” Spajic, who could become the country’s next prime minister, said at one of his pre-election meetings. “I’ll resign if I don’t catch on.”
The Democratic Party of Socialists, the party formerly led by Djukanovic, has seen its popularity wane after three decades of dominance and has a new leadership looking for a chance to make a comeback.
Party leader Danijel Zivkovic accuses the country’s current government of jeopardizing Montenegro’s path to the European Union and vows to unblock it if DPS returns to power. Montenegro, a picturesque country on the Adriatic Sea with a population of around 620,000, was once considered the first country to join the EU from the Western Balkans.
Djukanovic led Montenegro to independence from Serbia in 2006 and challenged Russia to join NATO in 2017. An alliance dominated by parties seeking closer ties with Serbia and Russia overthrew DPS from power in the previous parliamentary election 2020.
EU path stalled
However, the new ruling alliance soon fell into disarray, blocking Montenegro’s path to the EU and causing a political deadlock. The government fell in a vote of no confidence last year, but has been in office for months due to the deadlock.
Elections on Sunday will also see the United Reform Action coalition, including acting Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, and a pro-Serb and Russian coalition called For the Future of Montenegro.
Abazovic, who presented himself as the anti-mafia leader in a country riddled with crime and corruption, also promises several steps to improve voters’ living standards.
“If we beat the mafia, it will be there [money] for everyone,” said Abazovic recently. “We will establish a judicial fund, which would return the stolen funds to the budget of the state and all citizens.”
The lukewarm election campaign was rocked this week by Abazovic and Europe Now party leader Spajic trading accusations about South Korean ‘crypto king’ Do Kwon.
Kwon was arrested in March along with another South Korean citizen in Montenegro under an international warrant in connection with a $40 billion crash of his Terraform Labs cryptocurrency that devastated private investors around the world.
Both South Korea and the United States have requested his extradition from Montenegro, where he is on trial for allegedly using a forged passport.
Abazovic has alleged that Spajic had close business dealings with Do Kwon.
Spajic called Abazovic’s allegations “political persecution” and accused him of abusing Montenegro’s institutions while creating an election week controversy “for fear of losing power”.