President Milo Djukanovic has announced early parliamentary elections will be held in Montenegro on June 11, after he dissolved the national assembly on March 16 and as he heads into a weekend vote where he is seek a new five-year mandate.
According to Montenegro's constitution, the elections must be organized between 60 and 100 days after the president's decree dissolving parliament.
"In line with the constitution...I have decided to call parliamentary elections on June 11," Djukanovic said on March 17 at a press conference in the capital, Podgorica.
The announcement of the general elections also comes two days before a presidential vote which Djukanovic is likely to win. He is not expected, however, to get the majority needed to avoid a runoff two weeks later against his closest challenger.
SEE ALSO: As Montenegrins Prepare To Vote, Djukanovic Hopes To Take Them For One Last SpinDjukanovic's main adversaries in the March 19 presidential election are Andrija Mandic, the leader of the pro-Russian Democratic Front, and Jakov Milatovic, a pro-Western economist and the deputy head of the Europe Now movement.
Montenegro has experienced continuous political turmoil since Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic's acting government lost a no-confidence parliamentary vote in August 2022.
Djukanovic has refused to appoint Miodrag Lekic as prime minister, citing procedural errors.
Lekic was handed a mandate to form a government on the basis of controversial amendments to the law on the president under which the parliamentary majority took over part of Djukanovic’s constitutional powers.
The parliamentary majority made up of the pro-Moscow Democratic Front, the Democrats, the Socialist People's Party, and the URA Civic Movement changed the law in December.
Djukanovic and European Union officials have warned that the curbing of the president's authority contradicts the constitution.
The United States and European Union have appealed to the parliamentary majority not to try to form a government based on the amended law because it would have questionable legitimacy.
Djukanovic has held high-ranking political posts in Montenegro for the last 30 years. He led Montenegro to its independence from the Serbia-Montenegro state union in 2006, secured NATO membership for Montenegro, and put it on the road toward joining the European Union.
His opponents accuse him and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of corruption and links to organized crime. He denies those charges.