Montenegro's parliament votes for Cabinet reshuffle

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Montenegro's parliament voted for a Cabinet reshuffle Tuesday at the suggestion of Prime Minister Milojko Spajic.

The issue of changing the Cabinet was discussed at a session of parliament at the request of Spajic and one of the leaders of the European Now Movement (PES) on the grounds that it was not "inclusive, stable and European.”

The new Cabinet, presented by Spajic to the 81-seat Montenegrin parliament, was accepted with the votes of most of lawmakers who attended the session.

The Government of Montenegro now consists of pro-Serbian parties and the Bosniak Party.

The fact that the new Cabinet consists of the New Serbian Democracy party and the Democratic People's Party and the Bosnian Party, which pursue pro-Serbian and pro-Russian policies, drew negative reactions.

Deputies of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Social Democrats of Montenegro (SD), the Civic Movement United Reform Action and the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI) reacted by not participating in the voting.

In a statement, DPS Leader Danijel Zivkovic said there were Montenegrin Serbs, Albanians and Bosnians in the new Cabinet, but there were no Montenegrins, and this decision dragged the country into an "ethnic federalization.”

Bosnian Party leader Ervin Ibrahimovic said his party has political goals and they will not allow anyone to interfere with them.

Nikola Zirojevic, one of the SD members of parliament (MPs), argued that the Bosnian Party did not represent Bosnians.

The 44th Government of Montenegro consists of 24 ministers, seven deputy prime ministers and a prime minister.

Some 53 lawmakers attended the parliament session, excluding MPs of the opposition.

The newly elected government members took the oath at the session.

While early general elections were held in Montenegro on June 11, 2023, the task of forming a government on Aug. 10 was given to former Finance Minister Spajic.

In the snap elections, the Europe Now Movement (PES) won 25.6% of vote and had 24 deputies.

The coalition formed by the Democratic Party of Socialists and its partners the Montenegrin Liberal Party (LP), the Albanian Alliance and Social Democrats of Montenegro, ranked second in parliament with 21 deputies, receiving 23.2% of the vote.