Montenegro Elections Update: A Pro-European Coalition is Formed

After gaining a one-seat majority in the Montenegrin parliamentary elections last week, the opposition parties have formed a coalition for a new government to replace the party that has ruled for 30 years through independence from Serbia in 2007. The ruling party won the most votes and seats, but even with its coalition allies, fell just shy of the necessary parliamentary majority, although it retains the presidency, as the President is chosen in separate direct elections. Despite the second-place party being pro-Serbian and pro-Russian, the new coalition pledges no changes to NATO member Montenegro’s pro-European and pro-Western foreign policy and no adoption of Serbian identity over Montenegrin identity, which were the major issues in the election, along with concerns about public corruption. Serbs are a significant minority in the Slavic former Yugoslav Republic. There are also Albanians, Bosniaks and Croats. Montenegro, which maintains sanctions on Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine, is expected to seek admission to the European Union.