Montenegro Celebrating Independence Day on May 21

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Montenegro is celebrating its Independence Day on May 21, with the government holding a ceremony in Podgorica.

Certain opposition parties and organizations have invited citizens to gather on Mt. Lovcen to celebrate Independence Day.

In the 2006 referendum, 55.5 percent of the Montenegrin population voted in favor of independence, while 45.5 voted for a union with Serbia. Out of the total 484,718 citizens eligible to vote, 419,236 (86.49 percent) turned out to vote in the referendum.

Montenegro is seeing the 15th anniversary of its declaration of independence as a nationally deeply divided society, with a referendum division into Serbs and Montenegrins and a strong influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian authorities, which became particularly noticeable after President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists lost the August 2020 election and became the opposition after 30 years in power.

Now the majority consists of parties advocating a tight-knit alliance with Serbia, as shown by local elections in two cities - Niksic and Herceg Novi. This year, for example, the flags of Montenegro, Serbia and the European Union are flying in Budva on Independence Day, while no flag has been raised at all in Niksic. The two cities are ruled by pro-Serbian parties.

Since the Aug. 30 general election, nationally-motivated incidents have become a daily occurrence, tensions in the society have been considerably elevated, while hate speech has become increasingly pronounced in the public sphere.