Government of Montenegro

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev departed from a scheduled meeting in Podgorica after waiting four minutes for Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, who did not appear on time, according to a report by Montenegrin newspaper "Viesti" cited by Nova TV and BGNES.

• More than 542,000 Montenegrin citizens are eligible to vote at 1,038 polling stations.
• The last parliamentary elections in August 2020 saw Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists ousted from power after almost three decades.

A year on, Abazovic has his deal with the Church and can point to a string of high-profile organized crime arrests. But while the work of the Constitutional Court has been unblocked, little progress has been made on reforming the judiciary, a key condition of Montenegro's EU accession process.

It is the first definitive electoral personal defeat of Djukanovi since his entry into state politics in February 1991.
Djukanovi was defeated in the first round of the presidential elections in 1997, but emerged as winner in the second.
Djukanovi received the unanimous support of the DPS Main Board for this new candidacy at the session held on February 24.

The administration led by the leader of the green movement URA, Dritan Abazovic, became the government with the shortest period in power in Montenegrin political history - it only came to office in April.
The government was ousted by the votes of 50 MPs in the 81-seat parliament.

President of Montenegrin Commerical Court Blazo Jovanic (right) poses with Dean of Faculty of Law of Donja Gorica, Zoran Stojanovic, at a meeting on March 03, 2020. Photo: Commercial Court of Montenegro

Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic praised the police and prosecution action, adding that the fight against organised crime and corruption was one of his minority government's priorities.

The leader of the Black-on-White bloc, Abazovic, was elected Prime Minister by 45 votes in the 81-seat chamber, supported by his own coalition, the pro-Serbian Socialist People's Party and the former opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, the Social Democratic Party, the Bosniak Party and two ethnic Albanian coalitions.

Prime Minister-designate Dritan Abazovic at a press conference in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

"The government will have five priority areas of action. We will be focused on the fight against corruption, more sustainable investments, EU integration, sustainable development and environmental protection," Abazovic said.

Montenegrin Government session in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

An MP for the largest opposition party, the former ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, Milos Nikolic, accused the government of ruining the country's reputation.

Vujicic cautioned however that the process requires a stable government, which politically-turbulent Montenegro does not have at the moment.