Today is the parliamentary elections in Montenegro. The question is whether anyone can challenge President Milo Djukanovic and his party DPS, which has had a firm grip on politics for almost 30 years. The biggest challenger is a pro-Serbian party, backed by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
When the ruling Socialist Party DPS goes to the polls, it is with the aim of extending a long dominance in Montenegrin politics, the party’s leader Milo Djukanovic has ruled as president and prime minister for 30 years.
According to Djukanovic, representing an EU-friendly line, much is at stake in this election. According to him, Montenegro is threatened by pro-Serbian and pro-Russian forces, not least in the form of the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church, which has given its support to the opposition.
Protests against the government have been recurring since last year when a controversial religious law was hammered out. The Serbian Orthodox Church believes that the law in practice gives the Montenegrin state the right to seize the church’s property in the country.
The law has destroyed relations with neighboring Serbia and irritated Montenegro’s Serbian minority, who make up around 30 percent of the population.
The largest opposition party, which is just proserbic, seems to get around 25 percent. It is probably not enough to upset Djukanovic’s own party, which looks to be the largest at around 35 percent, but the party is said to need to seek new collaborations at the price of weakened power.
One challenge will be to get people to vote at all, the campaign has taken place in the middle of the holiday, also under severe corona restrictions.
Many voters also remember the 2016 election, which was overshadowed by information about a coup attempt supported by Russia that the opposition was accused of being behind. The opposition, for its part, believes that the government is corrupt, and the country is generally considered to be moving in an authoritarian direction. The Freedom House Institute, for example, no longer ranks Montenegro as a full-fledged democracy.
Source: ICELAND NEWS