Status: 05.02.2022 04:34
The pro-Serbian government alliance held in Montenegro for 14 months – until a vote of no confidence was passed in parliament. Prime Minister Krivokapic lost the majority. Months of tension followed.
The predominantly pro-Serb government in Montenegro under Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic collapsed after only 14 months. 43 out of 81 deputies voted no confidence in her in a vote in the Podgorica parliament on Friday evening. Eleven MPs voted against the motion of no confidence, the remaining MPs abstained.
The vote of no confidence followed months of significant political tensions in the small Balkan country. Already on Thursday, Krivokapic had admitted that his government was likely to fail.
In power since late 2020
The 63-year-old engineer and former professor took over the leadership of a broad governing coalition of centrist and right-wing parties at the end of 2020. The government took office with great promises of reform.
In the August 2020 election, she ousted President Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) from the government for the first time in 30 years. The zeal for reform evaporated relatively quickly as the mostly pro-Serb forces behind the government pushed ahead with their pro-Serbia agenda.
The accession negotiations with the EU, which had been ongoing since 2012, came to a virtual standstill. There was a no-confidence vote on Friday because the smallest coalition partner, URA, terminated the alliance with Krivokapic. URA boss Dritan Abazovic is now aiming for a minority government, which the DPS will tolerate.