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Parties of minorities hold key for Montenegro government formation (and maybe for NATO accession too)
Pro-Western PM Djukanovic's Party of Socialists gets relative majority, needs support from smaller parties · Opposition reiterates demand for NATO referendum
Djukanovic's party yesterday won 35 of 81 seats in the Montenegrin Parliament, up from 31 in 2012. The Montenegrin PM says he will be able to form yet another government with the support from several smaller parties, especially Bosniak, Croat and Albanian minority parties.
The main opposition list, the Democratic Front (DF), has won 18 seats. DF is mainly made up of pro-Serbian parties that reject Montenegro's accession to NATO, advocate closer links with Russia, and demand Djukanovic's departure from government.
Newly formed opposition coalition Kljuc managed to win 9 seats, the same number as the new Democratic Montenegro (DCG). Both lists say they favour EU accession, but have reservations as regards NATO.
All opposition groups are now calling parties of minority groups -who in the past have been Djukanovic's strong allies- to reconsider their support to the current Prime Minister, offering them the formation of a government coalition "for change."
Completing NATO accession
NATO approved last July the protocol access for Montenegro to join the bloc. It was an important step, but ratification from both the Balkan country and the governments of all NATO member states is still pending.
Djukanovic seeks to approve it in Parliament ("within a few months," he said today), while opposition parties (DF, but also DCG and some Kljuc members) are renewing calls for a national referendum on the issue.
Polls suggest an almost 50-50% division between supporters and opponents of NATO membership. Last year, protests against the North Atlantic Alliance were held in the capital city Podgorica, which were followed by a government crisis.