Montenegrin parties announce new majority to form government

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Montenegrin parties that formed an alliance to win parliamentary elections in 2020 agreed on Friday to form a new government, following last month’s no-confidence vote in the cabinet of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic.

The new majority of 41 deputies in the 81-seat parliament will comprise pro-Serb and pro-Western parties that in 2020 ousted a coalition led by the Democratic Party of Socialists of long-serving President Milo Djukanovic.

“This is a good opportunity to inform the president … and the international community that there is a parliamentary majority,” Andrija Mandic of the Democratic Front alliance, which wants closer ties with Serbia, told reporters in Podgorica.

Montenegro is a NATO member and a candidate to join the European Union.

At a conference in Belgrade, Abazovic, who is also the head of the URA pro-European party, said he would join the opposition if the parliamentary majority chooses another prime minister-designate.

“If there’s an agreement for me to be the prime minister, so be it, if not … I will pursue my policies from the opposition,” he said.

The Aug. 20 no-confidence vote in Abazovic’s cabinet was the year’s second no-confidence motion, following February’s collapse of the cabinet of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, who was backed by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Politics in the Adriatic country of just 625,000 people has long been marked by deep divisions between those who identify as Montenegrins and Serbs who opposed Montenegro’s independence from a former state union with Serbia.

Abazovic was also criticised over his handling of a contested deal regulating ties with the Serbian Orthodox Church, the largest church in Montenegro. [nL1N2ZF1OS ]

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Nick Macfie)