Biggest opposition bloc boycotts parliament

Biggest opposition bloc boycotts parliament

The Democratic Front (DF) presidency, led by Miodrag Lekić, believes that the refusal of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) to support the legislation "further deepened distrust between the government and the opposition, created by brutal election theft and misuse of state resources in last year's presidential election" .

The Democratic Front blamed the DPS for "continuation and possible escalation of the political crisis" and called on other opposition parties to join the boycott until the crisis has been resolved.

The law failed in parliament on Tuesday after the ruling DPS and minority parties voted against it.

This act, along with a set of election laws, was meant to restore confidence in the election processes in Montenegro, and has been worked on for several months with the political and technical support from the EU. But a deal on the "core rules of the game" was not reached, and the failure to do it came on the eve of important spring elections in 11 Montenegrin municipalities.

The strongest opposition party claims that "any delay in the adoption of new rules jeopardizes the regularity of the electoral process" adding they are ready to "promptly" take part in the adoption of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Deputies.

A statement issued by the DF-a also said that a parliament session to do this in urgent procedure could be held in early March at the latest, provided that the DPS "stops sabotaging" the adoption of the electoral law.

The DF also invited President Filip Vujanović not to call elections in 11 municipalities before resolving the emerging political crisis - because they believe that such a decision would unilateral, and serve to radicalize the political situation in the country.

The failure to adopt the law, and different positions taken during the voting on other important legislation from this area, has also deepened the crisis within the ruling alliance.

DPS leader and PM Milo Đukanović has told the junior member of the ruling coalition, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), that "one cannot act as if it is in power in the government and in opposition in the assembly," and that his DPS was "ready to get out of this situation" .

The SDP, unlike the DPS, voted in favor of the election law, and also supported the opposition's draft law on financing of political parties which envisages stricter control of state money spent during the campaign.

The European Commission called on all parties to continue working together on the set of laws in order to build public confidence in election process and democratic institutions.