Djukanovic says the country needs Euro-Atlantic integration. Montenegro must comply with European standards, said the Prime minister. Perhaps its political processes are also required to meet democratic standards and rules adopted in Europe.
However, the last parliamentary elections showed a clear discrepancy between changes desired by Djukanovic and the real situation. There were more than 120 violations of the electoral law and the secrecy of the vote at the polling stations on the day of voting. NGO MANS submitted 75 requests for initiation of criminal proceedings to the Special Prosecutor’s Office because of violations of the electoral legislation.
The most scandalous case was the arrest of 20 Serbs who were allegedly preparing the seizure of state institutions of Montenegro and attacks at night after the election. The Prosecutor-General’s statement about the detention of a criminal gang was widely discussed in the local media and caused panic particularly among opposition supporters. Considerable decline was recorded at the polling stations. According to unofficial information, out of fear of persecution and arrests by the authorities many Montenegrins decided not to vote for the opposition parties but for the DPS.
The head of the Social Democratic Party Ranko Krivokapic and the leader of “Democratic Montenegro” in Aleksa Becic at the meeting with EU representatives in Podgorica said that the elections had non-democratic nature despite the recognition of the results by the electoral committee. Bewilderment of opposition leaders was caused by the fact that the country’s leadership had allowed the conduction of the elections even had known about the planned coup.
However, another question is how international observers overlooked violations and all European countries recognized the result of the elections in Montenegro. In this case democratic rules act selectively while the EU prefers to stand aside and make decisions according to the will of USA.