Montenegro election: ruling party neck-and-neck with opposition

Montenegro's ruling party is narrowly ahead of the main pro-Serb opposition alliance in a hotly-fought election that has left both sides without a full majority.

With little over a third of the vote share, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) led by President Milo Djukanovic – in power for some three decades – looked set for its worst electoral showing since independence.

According to partial results from election monitor CeMI, the party was in line for 29 seats in the 81-member assembly, followed by the opposition "For the Future of Montenegro" coalition with 28.

A slate of smaller parties will now become key to coalition building.

READ MORE: Montenegrins go to polls in test for pro-Western ruling party

Stiff challenge

The DPS has never lost an election, having led the Adriatic nation since the end of communism in the 1990s to independence from Serbia in 2006, and more recently into NATO.

But this year they faced a stiff challenge from an emboldened right-wing and pro-Serb opposition that wants closer links with Belgrade and Moscow.

The opposition was riding high after a year dominated by a row between Djukanovic and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).

The conflict erupted in late 2019 when the government passed a law that could turn hundreds of SPC-run monasteries in Montenegro into state property.

Huge anti-government protests followed, led by priests and backed by the pro-Serb opposition who accuse Djukanovic of trying to steal the holy sites.

While Montenegro declared independence from Serbia in 2006, the SPC remains its largest religious institution and a third of the country's 620,000 population identify as Serb.

READ MORE: How Montenegro’s religious property law is a regional power struggle

Both sides optimistic

As the ballots were counted, both camps appeared optimistic.

"The regime has fallen," announced Zdravko Krivokapic, the leader of the main opposition alliance "For the Future of Montenegro".

But DPS said it was confident in its lead.

"I believe that we will celebrate a DPS victory tonight," said MP Nela Savkovic Vukcevic.

Police had earlier warned of possible unrest on voting day, though the polls closed without incident.

The Serbian Orthodox Church pleaded for all to spend the evening at home to "enable the election process to go ahead smoothly".

Djukanovic, who is now serving his second term as president after four stints as premier, is head of the DPS party but not immediately threatened by the poll.

While he has won plaudits for making Montenegro a front-runner in the Balkans on its path to joining the EU, Djukanovic's critics accuse him of widespread graft and crime links.

The US-based Freedom House rights group recently downgraded Montenegro from a democracy to a "hybrid regime" under Djukanovic's "strongman" rule.

During the last parliamentary poll in 2016, authorities claimed to have foiled a coup plot – allegedly with Russian help – aimed at preventing Montenegro from joining NATO.

Among the 20 arrested, mostly ethnic Serbs, were two opposition leaders later sentenced to five years in prison, which they are appealing.