To elections before the “Euro model” shows up in billing: the opposition says it is not surprised by Mandić’s statement

Montenegro’s opposition says it is not surprised by Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić’s warning that state elections will be held in six months, as Vijesti reports. According to it, there had been an informal agreement to go to the polls in June 2027, if political circumstances remained regular.

The European Alliance (ES) interprets Mandić’s statement as a signal that the authorities are considering going to the polls earlier, according to Vijesti’s reporting, while the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) claims to have information about a possible vote as early as February or March.

Nikoleta Đukanović, a docent at the University of Donja Gorica, stresses that more important than the date is the question of whether parliamentary and general local elections should be held on the same day: introducing a unified date for local elections was supposed to be one of the few concrete steps of electoral reform, and if parliamentary elections are now deliberately fitted to the same date, that would undermine the reform.

The DPS calls this an “attempt to buy a few percent more with salaries a few hundred euros higher”, while the ES, as Vijesti reports, says the consequences of the majority’s policies will be paid by citizens through price rises, layoffs and the closure of businesses.

The “Euro model” is part of the election positioning: “it was entered into, regardless of when the elections will be”, says Nikoleta Đukanović, according to Vijesti’s reporting.