Montenegro Mulls Moving Presidential Inauguration Amid Protest Fears

Montenegro's newly-elected president Jakov Milatovic (centre) celebrates the electoral results in Podgorica. Photo: EPA-EFE/BORIS PEJOVIC

"A significant number of citizens in Cetinje do not approve of Milatovic's politics so he could have inconveniences during the inauguration," Adzic told a parliamentary defence and security committee hearing.

"The state would guarantee his safety, but it is our duty to avoid conflicts. It's not a weakness of the state," he added.

He also said that Milatovic has already decided he wants to be inaugurated in Podgorica, "but if he wants a ceremony in Cetinje, the police will enable it".

Europe Now movement candidate Jakov Milatovic won the presidential election run-off on April 2 by a large margin, ousting the Democratic Party of Socialists' veteran leader Milo Djukanovic.

Milatovic was minister of economic development in the so-called expert government that was formed after the Democratic Party of Socialists' defeat in the August 2020 parliamentary elections.

Before the run-off, a group of pro-Montenegrin organisations' supporters attacked Milatovic on March 17, trying to prevent him from attending an electoral convention in Cetinje.

Milan Knezevic, one of the leaders of the Democratic Front, which is part of the ruling alliance, said that the authorities should be able to provide security to state officials in every town in Montenegro.

"After the earlier protests in Cetinje, Montenegro will win the Eurovision Song Contest sooner than it will inaugurate the president in the old royal capital. But we must be aware that those protesters are not a majority in Cetinje," Knezevic said.

According to the constitution, the state president's ceremonial inauguration must take place at...