Niksic Municipal Elections Won by Parties Holding Majority in Montenegro Parliament

Montenegro, The coalition agreement (YouTube screenshot)

Coalitions that make the majority in the Montenegrin Parliament have claimed another victory by winning the municipal elections in Niksic, according to the results published by the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) on March 15.

The coalition around the Democratic Montenegro and the Democratic Front has won the majority necessary for the formation of the new local government in that city, while the coalition around the now opposition Democratic Party of Socialists fared the same as in the parliamentary vote held last year.

The Niksic elections, although local, carry regional weight, as they are the first elections organized after the parliamentary elections held on Aug. 30, 2020, in which the incumbent Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic’s party, the Democratic Party of Socialists, had lost power after 30 years. Votes were cast in an atmosphere full of tensions and accusations of Serbia directly meddling in Montenegro’s affairs and supporting the Democratic Front.

Niksic, which is the second largest city in Montenegro and Djukanovic’s place of birth, is also an influential center of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which had played an important role in the 2020 parliamentary vote and the defeat of Djukanovic’s party, by organizing a series of religious processions against a law on the freedom of religion.