Montenegro

Montenegro’s opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, pushed from national power in 2020 after three decades of uninterrupted rule, won a snap local election in the capital, Podgorica, on Sunday and immediately called on the country’s government to resign. The election was closely watched given that more than a quarter of all voters in Montenegro are eligible to vote in Podgorica. 

“Enlargement has gained momentum. I thanked (Montenegro's) President Jakov Milatovic for his strong commitment to speed up the process of integration so (that) Montenegro can be the next EU Member State. The door is open. Timely delivery will be the key,” said Varhelji after a meeting with Milatovic.

Montenegro’s parliament voted in a new government on Tuesday, following weeks of negotiations and nearly five months after the country went to the polls. The small Balkan country will be led by a coalition of pro-European, pro-Serb and Albanian minority parties, helmed by former finance minister and ex-Goldman Sachs banker Milojko Spajić, who leads the centrist Europe Now Movement. 

The leader of the centrist Europe Now movement, Milojko Spajic, was nominated as Montenegro’s designated prime minister and now has 90 days to form a new government.

Europe Now, the party of new Montenegrin President Milatovic, won Sunday’s parliamentary election, beating the once mighty Democratic Party of Socialists into second place.

Montenegro’s early parliamentary elections on Sunday could give the country an effectively-functioning government for the first time in almost three years since the Democratic Party of Socialists, which had been in power for decades, was voted out in August 2020.

Ahead of early elections on June 11, the ruling Democratic Front political alliance has dissolved while the opposition bloc is promoting young politicians in its electoral lists instead of party veterans.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) today opened an observation mission for the 11 June early parliamentary elections in Montenegro, following an invitation from the national authorities.

Montenegro’s President and leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists Milo Djukanovic was defeated in Sunday’s presidential election run-off, losing power 32 years he was first appointed Prime Minister in February 1991. The longest-serving leader in Europe lost the presidential elections by a large margin to 36-year-old political rookie and Europe Now candidate Jakov Milatovic.

Montenegro's Cyber Incident Response Team, CIRT, said on Wednesday that is is readying to deal with any DDoS cyber attacks during the presidential elections on March 19.