June 7 (SeeNews) - Montenegro will hold on Sunday an early general election called by then president Milo Djukanovic in March, after the government fell in a no-confidence vote and prime minister-designate Miodrag Lekic failed to form a new cabinet within the designated three-month period.
Djukanovic dissolved parliament in March, shortly before he was defeated by Jakov Milatovic in a runoff vote in the presidential election held on April 2.
A total of 542,468 eligible voters will choose from candidates from fifteen parties and coalitions running for representation in the 81-seat unicameral National Assembly.
The latest opinion polls carried out in May by polling agency and non-governmental Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) put support for Milojko Spajic’s Europe Now party (PES) at 29.1%. Europe Now was established in June 2022 by Spajic and Jakov Milatovic.
The survey conducted by CEDEM during May 1-14 showed that the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) garners 24.1% support, followed by the Democratic Front with 13.2%, Democratic Montenegro, also known as Democrats, with 11.1%, and the Bosniak Party with 5.1%.
DPS won 36 seats in parliament in the last election held on August 20, 2020. For the Future of Montenegro party came second with 27 seats, subsequently forming a coalition government with Peace is Our Nation and the United Reform Action (URA) parties. Support for United Reform Action (URA) stands at 4.4% in the CEDEM survey. The Peace is Our Nation coalition was then led by Aleksa Becic, whose Social Democrats enjoy 11.1% support, according to the survey.
Members of parliament are elected for a four-year term under a closed-list proportional representation system.
To secure representation in parliament, a party or a coalition needs to win at least 3.0% of all valid votes. The threshold is set at 0.7% for candidates running on ethnic minority lists representing voters that account for at least 15% of the population in any of the country's districts. Ethnic Croat lists are exempt from that rule. If no list representing ethnic Croats passes the 0.7% threshold, the list with the most votes wins one seat in parliament if it has received the support of more than 0.35% of the voters.
On election day, polling stations open at 07:00 CET and close at 20:00 CET.