Montenegro: Replacing Political Government with a Government of Experts

In Montenegro, the opposition has won the elections on Sunday, and the Montenegro people are finally going to have a new government . The ruling party was in power for 30 years.

“The point is that one of the last undemocratic systems in Europe has been changed on elections in a peaceful manner, which is unusual taking into consideration economical exhaustion of the country and the government which has been impossible to change for decades,” said Aleksandra Gardasevic-Slavuljica, President of rebuilding.travel in Balkan and the Hon. Consul for Seychelles.

She added: “Hopefully, everything will change as from tomorrow. The government did not officially recognize the results of the elections, but they mentioned that whoever wins the majority, should be supported by the rest. They said they will wait for the official results announced by the State Election Commission. This might last a couple of days but hopefully will end in a peaceful manner.”

An insider from Montenegro told eTurboNews:  “They cannot do anything to change the people’s will. I think in a few days [the] situation will be clear.”

Aleksandra said: “The percentages are correct. However, ‘For the Future of Montenegro’ is the largest opposition coalition, not consisting of Serbs parties only. There are 7-8 parties in it. The biggest one is pro-Serb, but some others are not. Apart from this opposition coalition, there were 2 more opposition coalitions competing and they consist of different nationalities living in Montenegro: Montenegrins, Bosnians, Serbs, Albanians, Croatians. These 2 coalitions are civic parties. Even the leader of one of the civic coalitions is [an] Albanian.”

Also, regarding the majority in the Parliament (41 seats), there is no problem with it because all the time during the campaign, these 3 political oppositions pointed out that in the end, they will go together and create the government. This is what all 3 leaders already confirmed tonight. So, there is no doubt about the future government. They also clearly stated that the government will consist of experts, not politicians, which is good.”

Aleksandra wondered: “Too bad that Reuters did not explain all these details.”

Reuters reported: “On the basis of 100% of ballots from a sample of polling stations, CEMI forecast the DPS had secured 34.8% of votes, while the alliance of mainly Serb nationalist parties, “For the Future of Montenegro,” which wants closer ties with Serbia and Russia, was just behind with 32.7%. As neither of the two largest contenders will secure the 41 deputies in the 81-seat parliament needed to rule alone, they would need to seek coalition partners.”

The election turnout was high, with 75% of the voters going to the polls, 3 points more than in 2016, and 11 points more than at the 2018 presidential election.

Montenegro has been experiencing political turmoil ever since December last year, when the DPS majority adopted a controversial Law on Religion, fiercely opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, which invited its members to vote against DPS. The coalition around the Democratic Front seems to have profited the most from the polarization caused by the law. DPS has also experienced serious anti-corruption protests in 2019.

Aleksandra concluded: “Now, the party still in power needs to admit the loss, and hopefully, they will not create any manipulations. As we all know, they [have] function[ed] for decades on a fraudulent base. So, I hope that they will just admit that they have lost the elections. Good feeling… with a hope that we will be living in a free country soon.”

CeMI and Center for Democratic Transition, which have monitored the election day, have reported a number of irregularities.