Djukanovic dissolves parliament, Montenegro heads for early elections at the end of May

The President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, dissolved the Parliament yesterday and is ready to announce the date of early parliamentary elections, 2 days before the citizens turn to the ballot boxes to elect the country's new president. According to the announcement of the Presidency, the decree for the dissolution of the Parliament of Montenegro was signed on the basis of article 92, point 3 of the Constitution of Montenegro. The current government of Dritan Abazovic was ousted by a motion of no confidence seven months ago. The executive was ousted after Abazovic signed the Basic Agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church in August 2022. 90 days after the amendments to the Law on the President were approved, on the basis of which Miograd Llekic was proposed as a Government Mandate, this legislation was published in the Official Gazette . Llekic failed to secure the support of 41 of the 81 members of Parliament and form the new Government within the 90-day deadline. Djukanovic had said that the amendments to the Law on the President were contradictory and his legal advisers sent it to the Constitutional Court for constitutionality assessment. The law was amended in December by the parliamentary majority consisting of the pro-Russian Democratic Front, the Democrats, the Socialist People's Party and the URA Movement. Through legal changes, the parliamentary majority took over the constitutional authority of the state president, as Djukanovic, for formal reasons, refused to mandate Llekic to form the new Government. International partners, especially the United States and the European Union,