Montenegro Opposition Coalition Takes on Djukanovic

Three main opposition groups in Montenegro say they will join forces to fight in the general election scheduled for October 16.

The "democratic coalition" unites three parties and groups considered civic and moderate in their orientation - the Civic Movement URA, DEMOS and the Socialist People's Party, SNP.

URA and Demos were formed last year by several former officials but also joined by several representatives of pro-Serbian parties that have now left their old nationalist parties.

The SNP was founded by former Yugoslav Prime Minister and Montenegrin president Momir Bulatovic in 1998, after a split in the then united ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

The coalition will be led by Miodrag Lekic, a former diplomat and university professor in Italy, who already tried unsuccessfully to unite the country's various opposition groups in a joint front against veteran leader Milo Djukanovic, now 25 years in power.

Although analysts do not believe the new coalition of three parties could threaten Djukanovic, a URA senior official, Nedjeljko Rudovioc, told BIRN that they expect to win about 23 per cent of the votes in the October elections.

Rudovic said that all opinion polls show that Djukanovic and his "satellite" parties and ethnic minority parties will not win an absolute majority and that it is "time for change".

"It is time for all actors on the political scene to unite and create a credible alternative to Djukanovic's regime," Rudovic said, expressing regret that the coalition is not wider and does not include the centre-left Democrats [Demokrate].

"We will use the synergy of these three parties to gain confidence for politics in the service of citizens and not politics in the service of...