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Montenegro holds early parliamentary elections on Sunday

Fifteen political coalitions and parties claim 81 seats in the Assembly

BELGRADE, June 11. /TASS/. Early parliamentary elections will be held on Sunday in Montenegro. Voters will have to elect deputies of the Assembly (unicameral parliament) for four years.

Polling stations across the country will open at 07:00 local time (08:00 Moscow time) and close at 20:00 (21:00 Moscow time).

A total of 558,741 ballots will be printed for 542,468 voters, subject to a statutory margin of 3%. 1.35 million euros were allocated from the country's budget for holding early elections.

Deputies are elected for four years by direct secret ballot under the system of proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency. To get into parliament, parties and coalitions need to overcome the 3% threshold.

Fifteen political coalitions and parties claim 81 seats in the Assembly.

According to the results of sociological polls, the Europe Now movement, founded in June 2022 by Jakov Milatovic (the president of Montenegro since May 2023) and Milojko Spajic, can win with a score of 29.1%.

The Together! For the Future That Belongs to You coalition led by the center-left Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and its leader Danijel Zivkovic comes second (more than 25%).

The Aleksa and Dritan - Count Bravely coalition comes third (15.5%), the For the Future of Montenegro coalition is on the fourth place (13.2%), the center-right Bosnjak Party of Montenegro is on the fifth place (5.1%).

The 3% threshold required for a political force to enter parliament can be overcome by the right-wing Albanian Alternative, which, according to the latest data, accounts for 1.9% of the vote.

The course for the speedy integration of Montenegro into the European Union is supported by all the main favorites of the election campaign.

"It will be difficult for pro-Russian parties to get the potential to enter power," said Biljana Matijasevic, a columnist for the Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti. In her opinion, the republic will maintain a pro-Western foreign policy following the results of the elections.

In accordance with the 2007 constitution, Montenegro is a parliamentary republic.

In addition to lawmaking, the powers of the Assembly include the adoption of the constitution. Parliament approves and dismisses the prime minister and members of the government, the chairman of the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the prosecutor general, and adopts the budget.

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