Podgorica. Montenegro’s Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, is nearing a power-sharing agreement in Montenegro, local media reported on Monday. The deal should maintain political stability until Podgorica is invited to join NATO in the 2016 July Summit in Warsaw.
The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) have apparently agreed on an electoral roadmap for the forthcoming legislative elections this autumn. The details of the roadmap will be debated in parliament next week.
Djukanovic has ruled Montenegro either as President or as Prime Minister since 1991 without the most impeccable democratic credentials. In late January, the Prime Minister of Montenegro offered a power-sharing agreement to the opposition, including cabinet posts, as a guarantee of transparency on the way to autumn’s legislative elections.
Apparently, the offer extended by Djukanovic includes five ministerial posts and key administrative offices, including tax and customs and the Investment Development Fund. The opposition has accepted in principle, but the road to legislative elections will not be easy.
There is one exception. The Demoratic Front (DF) party is boycotting the parliament since September and its position has not changed. The front is composed by the New Serb Democracy (NOVA), Movement for Changes (PzP), Democratic People’s Party (DNP), the Workers’ Party(RP), the Party of Pensioners and the Disabled (PUPI), NGOs, student organizations, academics, independent personalities and a fraction of Socialist People’s Party (SNP). They hold 15 seats in an 80 seat parliament and have been spearheading opposition to Montenegro’s bid to join NATO.
Prime Minister Djukanovic is a former Serbian nationalist that reinvented himself as a modernizer and champion of Montenegro’s independence. He is now spearheading Montenegro’s accession to NATO, triggering a political backlash that is unprecedented in post-Communist Europe. The opposition now seems in check and Montenegro is expected to become NATO’s 29th member state.