Goran Danilovic

Europe Now candidate Jakov Milatovic casts his ballot during the first round of presidential elections in Podgorica. Photo: EPA-EFE/BORIS PEJOVIC

On 19 March 2023, presidential election will be held in Montenegro for the eighth time since the introduction of the multi-party system in this country and for the fourth time since its independence was proclaimed in 2006. 542,154 voters will be eligible to give a vote.  The president of Montenegro is elected in a single national-wide constituency based on the two-round system.

Presidential candidates Andrija Mandic and Milo Djukanovic billboards in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

A polling station in Podgorica at the parliamentary elections in August 2020. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

On the proposal of the new Interior Minister, Goran Danilovic, Montenegro's government on Thursday said was offering a reward for fresh information about who ordered or carried out the murder of the prominent editor Dusko Jovanovic in 2004.

Montenegro's ruling DPS party has accused the country's interior minister, Goran Danilovic, of "siding with terrorists."

Danilovic is an opposition politician who is a member of the transitional government, headed by DPS leader Milo Djukanovic.

Civil society groups say legitimate complaints about Montenegro's electoral roll have not been addressed, raising concern about the outcome of the October 16 general election.

In the latest violence related to drug clans clashes in the Montenegrin resort of Kotor, a jailed alleged drugs gang member was killed by an unknown sniper while outdoors in the yard of the high security state prison in Podgorica on Thursday evening.

The Interior Ministry has warned that the situation in Kotor is "alarming" after violence between criminal gangs caused it to deploy anti-terrorist officers to the coastal town on Monday.

The authorities fear that the violence could jeopardise the tourist season in Kotor, which is visited each year by thousands of foreign tourists on luxury cruise ships.