Democratic Front

As the Montenegrin government marks the first anniversary of NATO membership with a celebration in the royal capital Cetinje on Tuesday, for the large community of ethnic Serbs in the country, joining the alliance is still seen as an illegal decision that was imposed on them without a vote.

The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, party won most votes in ten out of 12 municipalities on Sunday, but will only be able to form an administration on its own in five of them.

The preliminary results show that the DPS, run by the country's veteran leader Milo Djukanovic, secured an absolute majority in the capital Podgorica for the first time since the early 2000s.

"This criminal organization was created not only because of Montenegro, but also because of other areas, and it is clear that a similar situation was being prepared in Serbia, too. What was being prepared for then Montenegrin Prime Minister (Milo Djukanovic) was also planned in Serbia," Milivoje Katnic said in the Higher Court in Podgorica.

Montenegro's hardline and influential Serbian Orthodox Church and conservative opposition parties have condemned plans to allow same-sex marriage in Montenegro - while LGBT organisations say the proposed law gives them too few rights.

The trial of Nebojsa Medojevic, one of the leaders of Montenegro's strongest opposition alliance, the Democratic Front, opens on Wednesday in Podgorica.

Milo Djukanovic, who has dominated politics in Montenegro as president and prime minister for almost three decades, is running for another presidential term as voters cast their ballots in Sunday's election.

Opposition parties and anti-corruption watchdogs in Montenegro have accused the government of favouring a Chinese company in a billion-euro contract to construct a highway from Montenegro to Serbia.

A coalition of non-Serbian parties, "Together for Bosnia", which gathers nine Bosnian Croat and Bosniak parties, will contest the October general elections in Republika Srpska together, representing what they describe as a pro-Bosnian platform.

Montenegro's main opposition alliance, the Democratic Front, accused the court and prosecution in Podgorica of negligence, alleging that Sasa Sindjelic had been allowed to abscond so he can avoid serving a 21-year jail sentence in Croatia.

The Democratic Front claimed on Monday that Sindjelic has left the country and is reportedly in Serbia.

Montenegro's main pro-Serbian opposition group, the Democratic Front, has accused the country's pro-Western government of treason after Podgorica and Pristina agreed to set up an working group "to correct if necessary" the previously agreed border between the two countries.