Montenegro Opposition Splits Over Parliament Boycott

Opposition parties failed to agree on whether they should jointly start a boycott of parliament on Wednesday, after their proposed electoral reform amendments aimed at ensuring free and fair polls were not adopted.

The plan to boycott parliament over alleged electoral fraud and the allegedly poor state of democracy in the country was proposed by the strongest opposition alliance, the Democratic Front, but other opposition parties decided not to back the move.

The Democratic Front on Monday urged the rest of the opposition to unite to put pressure on the government and form a transitional administration.

Before announcing the boycott, the Front launched 24-hour protests in Podgorica on September 27, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and the holding of what it said should be Montenegro's first ever free and fair elections.

One of its leaders, Andrija Mandic, said a boycott was essential.

"Any opposition MP who shows up at the parliament session is not opposition," he said.

Parliament is supposed to discuss the formation of a joint committee for monitoring the implementation of the country's new electoral law, which the majority of the opposition sharply criticised because they claimed that it would not provide for a fair vote in elections which are planned for spring 2016.

The Democratic Front has refused to participate in the work of the committee because parliament in July did not adopted its amendments for deleting voters who do not live in Montenegro from the electoral roll.

On the agenda of the autumn session of parliament is also a proposal for granting the status of an independent municipality to the town of Tuzi, which has a majority Albanian population. 

The opposition DEMOS...