Montenegrin Prime Minister Says No Confidence Vote Against Government Impossible

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2021) Prime Minister of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapic rejected on Tuesday the possibility of holding a vote of no confidence against the government in the Parliament and organizing snap elections in the country.

In the end of November, the Montenegrin opposition filed a no-confidence motion in a bid to oust Krivokapic's government. The initiative was supported by 40 lawmakers out of 81.

Krivokapic and the members of the Cabinet presented the results of the first year of the government's work on Tuesday and called the current composition "one of the most successful in the history of Montenegro." The $780 million budget revenue was named the main achievement of the year.

"Defecting has never brought happiness to anyone. If it does happen, it will become another example of political corruption. I hope that in such a situation the investigating authorities will act differently than in similar cases in the past. I cannot imagine that after the parliamentary elections in August (2020), one of the 41 members of the ruling majority will take such an unethical step," Krivokapic said in response to a question on the possibility of the opposition gaining the votes necessary to dissolve the government.

He also doubted that snap elections could be properly held in the country's current state, when "there is no verified voter list, no amended legislation and renewed prosecutor's office, as well as no chairman of the election commission."

The tensions between the opposition, headed by President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists, and the ruling bloc arose in June, after Krivokapic dismissed Justice Minister Vladimir Leposavic over his refusal to acknowledge the Srebrenica massacre, committed in 1995 by the Bosnian Serb Army, as a genocide.

The August 2020 parliamentary elections in Montenegro saw a bloc of three of former opposition parties, the alliance For the Future of Montenegro led by Krivokapic, win a historic combined majority of 41 seats in the 81-seat legislature. Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists only gained 30 seats, losing its ruling status after almost 30 years in power.