Djukanovic's party

President Milo Djukanovic at the polling station in Podgorica. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

On April 2, Djukanovic lost the second-round vote to Europe Now candidate Jakov Milatovic, losing power 32 years after he was first appointed Prime Minister in February 1991.

Montenegro is likely to have a new president after the sociological institute CeMI predicted 60.1% of the vote for Jakov Milatovic, the former economy minister, over incumbent Milo Djukanovic.

Black on White bloc leader Dritan Abazovic (left) and Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic (right) at a conference in Budva. Photo: Atlantic Council of Montenegro

Parliament speaker Aleksa Becic (left) at a session in Podgorica. Photo: Parliament of Montenegro

Meanwhile, the other two blocs in government announced protests if a new government is formed with the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

Local elections on May 20 in the tiny northern town of Pluzine, which just over 2,500 voters, are being seen as an important trial of strength both for the opposition and ruling parties in Montenegro.  

Pluzine is the only town in Montenegro where the country's ruler for several decades, Milo Djukanovic, and his party, have never won either a general or local election.

Montenegro's veteran political leader Milo Djukanovic, who stepped out from running the government last year, might run for the country's presidency in 2018, some analysts are forecasting.

Djukanovic is set to end 27 years as Montenegro's top politician after his Democratic Party of Socialists nominated his long-standing protégé, Dusko Markovic, as his potential successor on Tuesday evening, according to a statement from the party leadership. 

Montenegrin lawmakers on Wednesday  will meet to approve a new cabinet after the ruling and opposition parties agreed on forming a transitional government to organize parliamentary elections by the end of this year.

It is expected that MPs at the same session will adopt a special law to legally define the implementation of the agreement and how state resources can be used.

After five month of negotiations, Montenegro's ruling and opposition parties are set to sign an agreement on Wednesday intended to ensure free elections and end a prolonged political crisis. 

It is expected that the agreement will be signed after Radojka Rutovic, the chief editor of the public broadcaster, TVCG, and the entire editorial team resigned at the weekend.

Montenegro's leaders are to meet yet again next week to try to resolve the crisis in the country following the failure of a no-confidence vote in the government in January.

The crisis, Montenegro's worst since it gained independence in 2006, revolves around opposition claims that the government has no legitimacy to organize general elections planned this year.