Montenegro

Early legislative elections appear far more likely after talks on forming a new government within the current parliament collapsed on Wednesday.

[…] The protest was held as lawmakers inside the parliament building voted to strip the country’s pro-Western president of a decisive role in appointing the prime minister.

Thousands of Montenegrins protested on November 8 against the parliament’s decision to change the law on the president, limiting his powers. They also demanded an early election instead of a new government.

Civic organizations on Wednesday criticized parliament's decision to adopt a low curbing the president's powers, saying it violated the constitution.

The same parties and blocs that won the August 2020 elections announced plans on Friday to form a new government and so lead the country out of its current political crisis.

Montenegro’s parliament passed a no-confidence motion on the cabinet of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic on Saturday (20 August), proposed by 36 deputies to protest the signing of a long-disputed deal regulating ties with the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church.

Following a weekend newspaper report, prosecutors said they are investigating Montenegro’s former top soldier over his role in the wartime shelling of Split in Croatia.

The signing of the agreement came under immediate criticism by human rights activists and pro-Western political parties, including President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which said it gave the church too much power compared to other religious communities.

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic's government has collapsed after only 14 months in power. The vote follows months of building tensions in the Balkan nation.

Montenegro's opposition parties and one group in the ruling coalition jointly proposed a no-confidence motion on Wednesday in Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic's Cabinet.