Montenegro’s President Begins Negotiations on Prime Minister Designate

Milo Djukanovic(Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has begun talks with political parties regarding the candidate for new prime minister designate. According to the country’s Constitution, the nomination must be put forth by Sept. 19 at the latest.

According to the President’s Office, Djukanovic will first sit down with representatives of the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Democratic Front and Democratic Montenegro.

DEMOS (i.e. Democratic Alliance) leader Miodrag Lekic has been mentioned as a potential nominee, but so far no conclusive agreements have been reached.

If Djukanovic makes a nomination and said candidate is not confirmed within 90 days, the Montenegrin Parliament will be disbanded and new elections will be held. The president has recently reiterated on several occasions that “there is little interest” within Parliament for the formation of a new Cabinet and that new parliamentary elections are a more probable outcome.

The Democratic Front, Democratic Montenegro and incumbent PM Dritan Abazovic’s United Reform Action party are currently attempting to form a new cabinet after Abazovic’s minority government received a vote of no confidence in Parliament on Aug. 19. Spearheading said vote was the Democratic Party of Socialists, supported by other pro-Montenegrin parties as well as by minority MPs and Aleksa Becic’s Democratic Montenegro.

The Democratic Party of Socialists requested the confidence vote after PM Abazovic signed a so-called ‘fundamental agreement’ with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Both the U.S. and the EU have repeatedly stated that the Democratic Front is not their ally and that they do not see a future where the party is included in the Montenegrin government.