Montenegro’s Ruling Party Wins Local Elections

The party won most votes in 11 out of 12 municipalities, but only in three towns will it be able to form a government on its own.

Instead, it will have to seek support from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by the country’s parliamentary speaker Ranko Krivokapic.

The outcome in the capital Podgorica was as expected – no party or coalition has an absolute majority.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said that his party is “the great victor” in the elections, and that the results confirm the DPS domination DPS and commitment of the public to continue on the country’s EU path.

According to preliminary results, the DPS will hold 28 out of the 59 seats in Podgorica’s local parliament. The opposition Socialist People’s Party and the Democratic Front together will have 26 seats, while the SDP’s alliance with the opposition Positive Montenegro will hold five.

Analysts said the ruling DPS could be considered only a “relative winner”, because it lost its absolute majority in several municipalities and the outcome in Podgorica could lead to a political crisis at national level.

Djukanovic’s DPS achieved an absolute victory in the municipalities of Savnik, Zabljak and Danilovgrad. In seven others, it must form a coalition. Besides Podgorica, it needs an alliance with the SDP or the Bosniak Party in Bijelo Polje, Bar, Pljevlja, Gusinje, Rozaje, and with small ethnic Albanian parties and civic groups in Plav. The party also declared victory in Kolasin but so did the opposition.

In most municipalities, the opposition significantly improved on its performance in local elections in 2010, but not enough to take power from the DPS. They have claimed that the elections were undemocratic and unfair.

The opposition SNP won in Pluzine, a town in the northern Montenegro. But in Kolasin, both the opposition and the ruling DPS have declared victory.

Meanwhile, Krivokapic’s SDP now finds itself fortunate to have a kingmaker role. Although the party has a drastically lower score than in the 2010 election, a majority in the capital is not possible without it. The SDP will also be the key player in forming post-election coalitions in most of Montenegro’s municipalities.

Party vice president and Interior Minister Rasko Konjevic said they were satisfied with the result but it was too early to talk about a post-election coalition in the capital.

The opposition said it was ready to talk with the SDP to form a government in Podgorica. They also offered an alliance to the SDP in other municipalities where there is no absolute winner to send “the DPS into political history”.

The leader of the opposition Democratic Front, Miodrag Lekic, said that although the elections were held in the face of numerous irregularities, the forces of change had won.

“The fact is that the DPS lost power in Podgorica because they do not have a majority. The majority is in the hands of the forces that are fighting for a legal state and fighting against crime and corruption,” Lekic said.

Sunday’s elections were marked by numerous irregularities at polling stations and on electoral rolls, local watchdogs reported.

MANS, a non-governmental organization, reported more than 500 irregularities at polling stations in Podgorica alone. MANS announced it will submit more than 130 criminal complaints for offences against voting rights.

Another watchdog, the Center for Democratic Transition, reported abuses in the election process in Podgorica, including a violation of the secrecy of the vote and a violation of postal voting procedure.

At a polling station in Podgorica, journalist Marko Milacic was attacked. He said that DPS activists, threatening him with a a gun, took a camera he was using to record electoral irregularities. In Podgorica and Danilovgrad, reporters from the independent daily Vijesti were attacked.

Unlike previous elections, this local poll was not monitored by foreign observers.

In most of the towns in Montenegro the turnout was over 50 per cent, according to officials from the municipal election commissions. In Podgorica, which accounts for more than a third of the total electorate, turnout was 70 per cent, the same level as last year’s presidential elections.