The World Briefly

June 12, 2023

Bread and Butter

Montenegro

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Montenegro held early parliamentary elections Sunday, a poll that comes as the NATO member faces political deadlock that could jeopardize the southeast European country’s path toward joining the European Union, the Associated Press reported.

Voters will choose among 15 parties and coalitions raging from pro-Western to pro-Serbian and pro-Russian groups. This will be the country’s first election in 30 years that doesn’t feature Milo Djukanovic, who served nearly continuously as Montenegro’s prime minister or president since the early 1990s.

Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) led the country to independence from Serbia in 2006 and joined the NATO alliance in 2017. But the long-time leader lost the April presidential elections to Jakov Milatovic and subsequently resigned as head of the DPS.

The early election came three years after a coalition of parties seeking closer ties with Serbia and Russia ousted the DPS in the 2020 parliamentary polls.

But the newly formed ruling alliance soon descended into disarray which disrupted Montenegro’s progress toward EU membership and created political gridlock. Last year, the government fell following a no-confidence vote – but has remained in office for months because of the stalemate.

Observers and polls suggest that the centrist Europe Now movement of Milojko Spajic and President Milatovic will emerge as the largest party – but will not secure the majority of seats in parliament.

Meanwhile, the election campaign has centered on accusations between Spajic and acting Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic over the South Korean “crypto king,” Do Kwon.

In March, authorities in Montenegro arrested Kwon and another South Korean on an international arrest warrant. Their arrest was linked to the massive crash of Kwon’s Terraform Labs’ cryptocurrency, which caused a staggering $40 billion loss for retail investors globally.

Abazovic has accused his opponent of having close business contacts with Kwon, while Spajic called the allegations “political persecution.”

Political analyst Daliborka Uljarevic noted that such accusations suggest that the main election issue is not focusing on Montenegro’s accession into the EU, but “economic populism” as evidenced by promises of higher wages by politicians.

This story originally appeared in the June 12, 2023 newsletter, Settlement of Evil.