PODGORICA: Montenegro votes Sunday with opposition groups hoping to end the quarter-century rule of pro-Western premier Milo Djukanovic, who warns that his rivals would derail imminent NATO accession.
Djukanovic, who led the small Balkan nation to independence from Serbia in 2006, has forged closer ties with Western countries, pursuing membership of both NATO and the European Union.
But analysts say the premier — accused by rivals of cronyism, corruption and links to organised crime — faces a tough challenge to form a stable government after Sunday’s poll.
Djukanovic, who faced large anti-government rallies last year, has pitched the vote as a choice between ties with the West or with traditional Slavic ally Russia, whom he accuses of funding opposition parties.
“Are we going to be part of developed European society or a Russian colony?” he asked supporters waving national red flags at his final rally in the capital.
The latest private survey seen by AFP forecasts his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) leading with less than 40 percent of the vote, a result that would mean coalition partners were needed to form a government.
“Even if the DPS could reach with their political allies some tiny majority, that would be unstable,” said Zlatko Vujovic, director of the Centre for Monitoring and Research, which is observing the election.
– NATO or not –
Montenegro was invited to join NATO in December, a decision yet to be ratified by Podgorica and existing member-states.
Moscow has warned of consequences if the Adriatic republic joins the alliance, already angered by its decision to join the EU’s policy of sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The Democratic Front, Montenegro’s main opposition bloc, openly calls for closer ties with Russia and is against membership of either the EU or NATO, calling for a referendum on joining military alliance.
“The outcome of the election will definitely decide: is Montenegro joining NATO… because one part of the opposition is clearly insisting on stopping that process,” said Vujovic.
Other opposition groups have more mixed positions — some are pro-EU but would also like a referendum on NATO — yet they have spoken of joining forces despite their differences to oust Djukanovic.
The issue of NATO accession divides the country’s 620,000 people, who remember the alliance’s 1999 bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, of which Montenegro was then part.
But Ljubo Filipovic, a civic activist and former deputy mayor in the coastal town of Budva, said most citizens were more concerned with the economy, which has seen soaring public debt.
