Podgorica City Assembly President Jelena Borovinić Bojović has accused opposition councilors of “committing fouls” in a clumsy attempt to seize power without elections, after the European Progress Party submitted an initiative to appoint Miloš Mašković as vice president of the city parliament, a position vacant since October 2024. Borovinić Bojović, who also faces a separate opposition initiative to remove her from the presidency, fired back by citing the Capital City Statute and Rules of Procedure, which clearly state that the vice president can only be elected upon proposal by the assembly president, not through opposition petitions. She announced that the ruling coalition will hold consultations in coming days to produce its own candidate, while dismissing the opposition maneuver as “petty obstructions and cheap tricks” from a former government that “wasted its mandate.”
The confrontation exposes the fragility of power in Montenegro’s capital, where the ruling Europe Now!-Democratic Montenegro-For the Future of Podgorica coalition lost its majority after the September 2024 snap elections, dropping from 31 to 27 councilors and leaving them three seats short. The European Alliance, led by Mašković, a 26 year old political operative who also serves as secretary of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary club, has sought to exploit this weakness by pushing for institutional influence despite lacking governing power. The opposition has also called for shortening the assembly’s mandate and holding early elections, arguing that the ruling majority no longer exists and has stalled the city’s development.
For Montenegro’s broader political landscape, the Podgorica standoff reflects national level dysfunction. The Europe Now movement, which emerged as a reformist force after the 2020 fall of the DPS regime, has fractured through internal conflicts between Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and President Jakov Milatović, while its poor performance in municipal elections has emboldened opposition forces. Borovinić Bojović’s hardline response, framing the opposition as ignorant of procedural rules and manipulative of voters, risks further polarizing an already divided capital, particularly as rumors circulate that she may soon become Deputy Prime Minister for health, potentially triggering another leadership vacuum. Whether the ruling coalition can maintain control of Podgorica’s institutions through procedural maneuvering, or whether the opposition’s pressure will force early elections, will test the durability of Montenegro’s post 2020 political order at its most vulnerable point.
