Montenegrins Vote for New Local Authorities

A total of 717 polling stations will open from 7am to 8pm on Sunday May 25 for local elections in 12 of the country’s 22 municipalities. Almost 315,000 people have a right to vote.

Local elections, held in accordance with a new EU-backed electoral law, will take place in Podgorica, Bar, Bijelo Polje, Danilovgrad, Zabljak, Kolasin, Plav, Pluzine, Pljevlja, Rozaje, Savnik and Gusinje.

For the first time in two decades, the election has not been marked by acrimonious debates about sensitive “national” issues such as state symbols, the question of the language, the position of the Church and the status of the Serbian community.

All parties have concentrated on local issues, such as the water supply system to villages, public transport, bicycle lanes or better collection of wastewater.

Most eyes in the local elections are on the outcome in the capital, Podgorica, which is likely to determine whether a snap general election follows.

The elections in Podgorica are a key test for the Democratic Party of Socialists-led coalition at national level, after the DPS's longtime ally, the smaller Social Democratic Party, SDP, hatched an agreement with the opposition Positive Montenegro party to run together in the local polls.

The Podgorica elections will be key test for the opposition as well, after it took control of two municipalities in Montenegro earlier this year.

Analysts say after the Podgorica elections, readjusting relations inside the ruling coalition at state level appears inevitable, making early parliamentary elections likely.

The election campaign has been marked by accusations of corruption on the part of the DPS by MANS, an NGO. The DPS has dismissed them as fabrications.

Last Thursday, MANS...