In Montenegro, 2026 could be the first year without elections in a decade. A regular election cycle has been ruled out, but an extraordinary vote cannot be completely ruled out, especially given the political tensions in some cities.
Interlocutors of "Vijesti" say that there are several reasons that support the scenario that this year will pass without elections, although crises in several local governments point to a possible electoral outcome.
Program Director of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) Milica Kovačević, she reminded that there will certainly be no regular elections in 2026, because local elections are "fixed" by law for June 2027, and that is when the regular parliamentary elections will also be held.
"Sudden elections, of course, always depend on political circumstances, so we can never completely rule them out," she told "Vijesti".
The chances of possible extraordinary voter declarations are greatest in areas where relations within local government have been strained for a long time or where political crises are renewed from month to month. Potential risk points are Podgorica, Pljevlja, Bar, Bijelo Polje, Tivat and Andrijevica, while Šavnik stands out due to the electoral deadlock (there is no agreement on repeating voting at two polling stations; the elections will take place from October 2022). Žabljak went through political upheavals in 2025, and in Budva tensions “heated up” again at the end of the year.
Three municipalities have not adopted a budget for this year and have entered the temporary funding system - Pljevlja, Bijelo Polje and Andrijevica.
According to the Law on Local Government Financing, if a municipality does not adopt the budget for the following year by 31 December of the current year, a decision on temporary financing is made, for a maximum of the first three months of the fiscal year. This allows the municipality to spend monthly up to one twelfth of the expenditures in the previous fiscal year, i.e. monthly spending can be up to the level of the average monthly spending in the previous year.
If the Municipal Assembly, after the expiration of the deadline for which the decision on temporary financing was made, does not make a decision on the budget, payments of legal obligations may be made by order of the Mayor, with the prior consent of the Ministry, until the decision on the budget is made, and for a maximum of three months, whereby the Municipality does not have the right to borrow and use the funds of the current budget reserve until the decision on the budget is adopted. If the budget is not adopted after that, an institutional blockade occurs because there is no legal basis for any further payments from the municipal budget.
At the state level, uncertainty is being created by announcements by the Democratic People's Party (DNP) that it might leave the government, due to the construction of the collector in Botun, but such a scenario would not mean the fall of the executive branch, but rather a test of the existing majority in parliament. The ruling majority has 52 MPs, including four from the DNP, so even without them it would remain at 48 seats - enough for the executive branch to survive, but with somewhat narrower room for maneuver and probably more difficult coordination of decisions.
Kovačević believes that, however, there are currently several reasons that support the scenario that 2026 will pass without elections.
"During the electoral reform process, both the government and the opposition agreed to postpone local elections for as long as possible. Although the CDT warned in its analyses that too long a delay would limit civil rights and harm democracy, and recommended holding elections earlier, political actors insisted on 2027," she said.
This, according to her, clearly shows that at this moment there is no political will to go to the polls.
At the proposal of the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform, at the end of July last year, the Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, according to which all local elections will be held on June 13, 2027.
Kovačević recalls that one of the main arguments for this approach was the European integration process, with the explanation that nothing, not even elections, should disrupt the fulfillment of obligations from the negotiation process. Although, he says, this seems problematic from a democratic perspective, the approach of a kind of "freezing" political life until possible EU membership is still very present.
"However, the possibility of early elections cannot be completely ruled out. In some municipalities, there are tensions and crises in local governments, but it seems more likely that such conflicts in 2026 will manifest themselves through passive resistance, blocking of decisions and institutional deadlocks, rather than through a decision to hold early elections," Kovačević assessed.
She argues that an additional risk could arise in the event of a standstill in European integration, because EU membership is one of the few common denominators of the "heterogeneous ruling majority."
"However, even in that scenario, it is more realistic that any political cracks would open closer to the expiration of the deadlines, at the end of 2026 and the beginning of 2027, and that a resolution would be sought within the regular election cycle," said Kovačević.
Rakočević: Early elections solve the crisis
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament and MP of the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Nikola Rakočević, told "Vijesti" that, although unified local elections will be held in 2027, the law provides for the possibility of holding extraordinary local elections if councilors decide to shorten the mandate of the authorities - no later than nine months before the 2027 elections.
As he said, crises at several local levels point to a possible electoral outcome. On the other hand, when it comes to the central level, Rakočević claims that the general political and social crisis would only be successfully resolved through early elections, and that after them, Montenegro would move more decisively towards using the great opportunity that has opened up for Montenegro due to Brussels' willingness to fast-track its entry into the EU.
"Whether there will be elections at the central level or whether political bargaining to the detriment of citizens will reconcile and settle the partners in power remains to be seen," he said.
Bogdanović: A year without elections - a historic step forward
Head of the Democrats Parliamentary Club Boris Bogdanovic, he said that if this year passes without elections, it would mean that institutions are functioning, that mandates are respected, and that the country "no longer lives in a state of emergency just because someone has a majority."
"Those who are asking today whether 2026 could be the first without elections in Montenegro in ten years are actually testifying to how accustomed they are to permanent chaos, constant campaigns and artificial instability as the model of governance of previous regimes. Unlike them, this parliamentary majority has brought the system," Bogdanović told "Vijesti".
As he added, for the first time after a decade of uncertainty, Montenegro has a clear, legally established election calendar, and if local government collapses outside the prescribed deadlines, early elections are no longer used as a means of pressure, but rather quick, clearly defined procedures are applied, and in the final year before the unified elections, a temporary, or forced, administration is introduced to prevent abuse of the system and endless exhaustion of citizens.
"This is how democracy is defended from political chaos. Because democracy is not constant elections; democracy is stable institutions, clear rules and equal conditions for all," Bogdanović said, stating that it is possible for this year to pass without elections and that it would be a historic step forward, not a setback.
Political instability, he says, no longer automatically means elections, because the state must no longer be held hostage to local political crises.
"Montenegro has lived in the campaign for too long. It is time to start living in the system," Bogdanović concluded.
Podgorica - the fall of the government is on the table
In Podgorica, the government was unstable during the summer months, when there was no quorum to hold several sessions of parliament.
The ruling majority is made up of the Europe Now Movement (PES), the Democrats, the coalition "For the Future of Podgorica" (ZBPG) and the Movement for Podgorica, which is close to the head of state. Jakov Milatović.
Since the formation of the government in late 2024, there have been disagreements between them, primarily over personnel issues. The culmination, however, occurred at the end of 2025, when the leader of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) Milan Knezevic, one of the ZBPG constituents, announced that he would propose to his party's presidency that he leave the government and the authorities in Podgorica. He did so after the police action in the Zeta settlement of Botun on December 30, which ended a two-month protest by the residents of that settlement against the plan to build a wastewater treatment plant there.
If the DNP, which has four representatives in the local parliament (in agreement with Prava Crne Gora, they have since gained a fourth), leaves power, it will “fall”. However, this does not necessarily mean going to the polls, as the remaining councilors of the ruling coalition, 27 of them, could form a new majority, seeking support from opposition representatives (at least three of them).
Pljevlja - schism and temporary financing
The political crisis in Pljevlja, which has lasted for almost six months, has entered a new phase, and its most serious consequences are the failure to adopt the budget for this year and the entry of the Municipality into a temporary financing regime.
How deep the crisis is is best illustrated by the fact that only four members of the ruling majority attended the last parliamentary session, which is an additional indicator of a serious split within the government.
The latest statements from coalition partners in power, primarily the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) and the Democrats, confirm that the problems do not only relate to technical issues of the functioning of the parliament, but to fundamental disagreements about the way the city is governed.
The crisis began with the blockade of the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly (MA), i.e. the inability to hold regular sessions due to the absence of six NSD councilors. They never publicly announced the reasons for their absence from the sessions.
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Although there were attempts to reach a political agreement, months passed without any concrete progress.
The penultimate session of the Pljevlja Municipal Assembly gave hope to some in the public that the crisis had been overcome. However, as the municipal board of the NSD admits, it turned out that the problems are still present. This made it clear that this was not a temporary misunderstanding, but a deep distrust between the partners who jointly govern the northernmost Montenegrin city. The distrust is most visible in the relationship with the mayor of Pljevlja. By Daria Vranes (NSD). Not even part of his party is satisfied with his way of running the city, which is confirmed by the absence of six NSD councilors from meetings for three months.
In a recent statement, the local NSD committee announced that it will organize a meeting of all representatives of the authorities in Pljevlja “immediately after Christmas” with the aim of resolving the accumulated problems. In addition to the NSD and the Democrats, the ruling coalition members are United Montenegro, the Movement for Pljevlja, the Europe Now Movement (PES) and the Socialist People’s Party (SNP), whose only councilor recently left the party and joined the newly founded movement. Dragoslav ŠćekićThe Civic Movement (GP) URA, which has one councilor, previously withdrew from the ruling coalition.
The NSD now admits that the crisis does exist, but claims that it is not insoluble, emphasizing responsibility towards citizens and the need to normalize life in the municipality as soon as possible. On the other hand, the Democratic councilors' club assesses that the crisis is now deeper than before. According to their position, the expected understanding and political agreement after months of deadlock have not been achieved. The Democrats insist on a clear coalition agreement that would unblock the work of the Municipal Assembly.
In a New Year's interview with "Vijesti", Vranes said that local government functions well and that this is evident in the results. He said that there are different political views on some issues, but that he believes that they come more from the headquarters of individual parties.
The announced meeting after Christmas could be the last chance to resolve the current political crisis in Pljevlja. If an agreement is not reached, it would lead to a further blockage of institutions and a complete loss of political stability. In this scenario, early local elections appear as a realistic option.
Tivat - more coercive administration than elections
Although relations between the government's constituents have been disrupted for a long time, especially between the civic lists Narod pobjeđuje (NP) and Tivatska akcija (TA), or NP and New Serbian Democracy (NSD), it is almost certain that there will be no early elections in Tivat this year.
Even if for any reason the ruling coalition, which has a "thin" majority (17 councilors in the 32-member parliament), were to collapse, the legal solutions, the procedure that must be implemented, and elementary logic are such that Tivat could possibly be left without a Municipal Assembly only at the end of June or beginning of July 2026. Then, if the Tivat Municipal Assembly were not to hold sessions for any reason, the Government could make a decision to dissolve the parliament and introduce a committee of commissioners, which would replace the Municipal Assembly until early elections are held.
However, as recent amendments to the law stipulate that all local elections in Montenegro must be held on the same day and that a date has been set for this - June 13, 2027, it is unlikely that there will be any special elections in Tivat...
"Even if this development of the situation were to occur, the interests of the major parties are such that they would not allow their resources to be spent on a single local election in Tivat, just a few months before the general local elections in Montenegro in June 2027. Thus, even if the current government were to collapse, Tivat would certainly be under a regime of 'forced administration' until June 13, 2027, when citizens would go to the polls," the Mayor of the Municipality and leader of the NP told "Vijesti". Željko Komnenović.
He reminds us that the last time, when the Social Democratic Party (SDP) withdrew its support in the Municipal Assembly to the then minority government of the citizens' lists in Tivat, more than a year had passed since the only SDP councilor Aleksandar Djurovic did so (early September 2021) until the early elections were held (late October 2022).
President of the Tivat Municipal Council and head of the local NSD committee Miljan Marković, told "Vijesti" that he "firmly believes" that there will be no early elections, because "everything that has happened in recent days regarding the scheduling of the municipal council session and the untimely submission of materials for it by the local executive authority, primarily the draft Decision on the 2026 Budget, has shown that "the local parliament has autonomy and a firm stance that it will not allow the role and place of councilors in the local government system to be disregarded."
This, he says, is exactly what the Tivat Action insists on and why they expressed dissatisfaction with the previous, "sometimes irresponsible behavior of the executive branch", which often submitted very important materials to the parliament in the form of additional agenda items just a day or two before the session, insufficiently prepared and with the ambition that the councilors would just "skip over" them and adopt them uncritically.
"There is no more of that, and no room for the Tivat Action to possibly radicalize its dissatisfaction with the initiative to shorten the mandate of the Municipal Assembly," said Marković.
He points out that the Tivat Action, which has one councilor, will certainly not vote with the opposition DPS for political reasons to shorten the mandate of the current municipal assembly, without whose votes this cannot happen in a situation when the other 16 councilors of the government are against shortening the mandate.
"Therefore, even if the TA councilor freezes his engagement and leaves the current majority without a quorum, this, given the legal solutions, procedures and deadlines, cannot lead to the dissolution of the Municipal Assembly by the Government and the introduction of a board of trustees before, at the earliest, mid-2026. And in that situation, extraordinary Tivat elections will certainly not be called before the date for general local elections in the country, in June 2027," explained Marković, adding that the Municipal Assembly session at which the 2026 budget will be discussed will most likely be held on January 23.
Bar - "cooked" since March last year
There were several events that pointed to a crisis of power in Bar during 2025, which was often a topic at the Municipal Assembly sessions, when the opposition demanded that it be determined whether the Municipality was run by its president, Dušan Raičević (DPS), or the head of the local parliament, Branislav Nenezić (Social Democrats - SD).
The climax came in early March, when councilors from the DPS, the largest party, did not show up for the session, so the Assembly did not have a quorum for work and decision-making. At the time, the DPS from Bar told "Vijesti" that it was necessary to "harmonize positions" and that there were no crucial problems in the ruling coalition.
Allegedly, the problem was caused by events at the municipal president's collegium, in communication between the secretary for property and investments. Stefan Šušter (SD) and Raičević, which resulted in three postponements of assembly sessions and the fact that the Bar mayor's collegium was not held for over two months. Newspaper sources from SD and DPS claimed at the time that there had also been an argument between Raičević and the director of a local company from SD, regarding infrastructure projects.
In the months that followed, both parties claimed that there was no split in the coalition, but they failed to convince the opposition or the public of this, so the political turmoil reached its peak at the Municipal Assembly session in late December, during which the municipal budget was discussed.
Nenezić rejected eight of Raičević's proposals, claiming that the Mayor was violating the Municipal Assembly's Rules of Procedure and "disrespecting the Assembly that elected him," and that the budget would not be adopted as Raičević had envisioned, "even if it were his last day sitting in the chair of the Municipal Assembly." After the break, Raičević apologized to the councilors at the request of the DPS and withdrew all of the proposals.
"It was brewing" even before the December session - Nenezić submitted an amendment to the budget requesting one million euros to subsidize kindergarten and food for all children in Bar, and Raičević, a few days later, presented the Local Action Plan (LAP) for the prevention of child and social protection, in which he included that item, and a total of one million and 700 thousand euros were allocated for 11 measures.
This solution was not acceptable to Nenezić, so not only did he not give up on having his initiative be a separate item in the budget, but he also requested an amendment to the agenda of the Municipal Assembly session, so that his proposal would be a separate item for discussion.
In the end, all councilor clubs supported Nenezić's amendment, corrected it during the break to the amount of 900 thousand euros within the LAP, proposed it as a joint one and unanimously adopted it. This solution left a total of 800 thousand for ten other items from the domain of social and child protection, and the question of whether they will be able to be implemented with that budget - remained open.
Of the 37 seats in the Bar parliament, the majority of 19 councilors are held by the DPS, SD, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Liberal Party (LP).
Budva - the Serbian Orthodox Church is shaking its seats, but it will last until 2027.
Informal ruling coalition in Budva - political group "Budva our city" led by the Mayor of the Municipality Nikola Jovanović, the European Union and GP URA with the so-called project support of DPS, will most likely stay together and govern the city until the local elections in 2027.
Despite both open and hidden opposition to Jovanović's decision that, in addition to a million-dollar donation to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), the Municipality should also pay for the preparation of project documentation for the construction of a new, largest Orthodox church on the Montenegrin coast - the Church of Saint Mark, and the construction of an underground garage under the future church complex, which will cost the citizens of Budva another couple of million euros, none of the parties is willing to engage in an open conflict with Jovanović and leave power.
A possible confrontation, according to those familiar with the political situation in Budva, would mean leaving power, but also losing directorships in municipal companies and institutions, which does not suit any party in a year that will be marked by a strong election campaign, which Jovanović has already started.
By taking positions within the current city government, each of the parties has begun to lobby, or rather animate new voters, because according to the well-established recipe of all previous years, managing any of the municipal companies guarantees winning councilor mandates. This is not possible from opposition positions, but the opposition from the New Serbian Democracy (NSD), DNP, Socialist People's Party, Democrats and PES has its logistics through directorships in state-owned companies, which in Budva have a great influence on the electorate.
The fact that 2024 in Budva was marked by two exhausting election cycles with an extremely dirty campaign, and judging by the fact that all political actors have maintained their ratings in the meantime, some might have more councilors after the new elections, some less - but in essence, the current political situation in the local parliament would not change significantly, so this is another reason why no one wants new, early elections.
Bijelo Polje - BS announced the redefinition of the agreement
In Bijelo Polje, the government entered an open crisis after the municipal session, at which the budget for 2026 was to be adopted, was postponed due to a lack of quorum, as the Bosniak Party (BS) councilors did not show up. This called into question the stability of the DPS-BS-European Union coalition, which has 19 councilors, compared to 18 opposition members, so any shake-up in the majority could block the work of the local parliament.
Due to the failure to adopt the budget, the Mayor of the Municipality, Petar Smolović (DPS), made a decision on temporary financing for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2026, with the message that this ensures the minimum functioning of the local government until the budget is adopted.
BS announced the redefinition of the coalition agreement and said that it would seek the position of the mayor. The president of the municipal board of that party Ernad Suljević He said that they are dissatisfied with the functioning of the coalition and that they are seeking faster development of the municipality, stating that in 2025, agreed infrastructure projects were not nominated/implemented, especially in areas where Bosniaks are more numerous.
He said that BS will seek an alternative in exercising power in Bijelo Polje if the coalition partner, DPS, does not agree with the platform it will offer them.
BS's partners in the state government have repeatedly pressured the party to end cooperation with DPS in Bijelo Polje, with whom they have been in power in that city since 2018. BS's Entry into the Government Milojko Spajić (PES) in the summer of 2024 was conditioned by the promise to "break away" from DPS, which has not yet happened.
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Andrijevica and Žabljak - "fire", for now, extinguished
The government in Andrijevica has been in a stalemate for several months, although a new majority was formed only a year and a half ago after the elections in June 2024. The majority consists of the SNP, Democrats, PES, NSD, and the Vasojević Unity Movement.
In recent months, municipal council sessions have not been held because PES councilors have not attended them, thus blocking the adoption of key decisions, including the strategic plan and local budget, thereby slowing down the work of local government and opening the possibility of switching to temporary municipal financing.
PES stated in statements that it did not want to provide legitimacy for the adoption of important development decisions "for which they were not consulted," while other partners in government said they were surprised by the reasons for the boycott, calling on PES to talk and agree in order to ensure the functioning of local self-government.
The situation was, for now, resolved on December 13th, when, in the continuation of the interrupted session, councilors from the ruling coalition and opposition representatives from the Civic Movement "For the Future of Our Children" supported the decision on the multi-year Strategic Plan for the Development of the Municipality.
This summer, a government crisis broke out in Žabljak due to a dispute between coalition partners - the Durmitor Initiative and the Democrats, which led to several municipal sessions not being held. The government in the town under Durmitor is made up of the former Democratic Front and Prava.
The blockade of the parliament ended on August 7th of last year, when the session of the Municipal Assembly resumed. President of the Žabljak Committee of Democrats and current Vice President of the Municipality of Žabljak Darko Šljivančanin, he told "Vijesti" at the time that, as far as his party was concerned, the disputes with the Durmitor Initiative were over, but he did not specify what the disagreements were about.
In ten years, parliamentary elections have been held three times, presidential elections twice.
The State Election Commission (SEC) told "Vijesti" that in the last ten years, in the period from 2015 to 2025, parliamentary elections were held three times, namely on October 16, 2016, August 30, 2020, and early elections on June 11, 2023.
Presidential elections were held in 2018 and 2023.
Regarding data on local elections, the State Election Commission referred "Vijesti" to local commissions, whose websites do not provide information for all election cycles.
According to available data, from 2015 to the present, local elections have been held in Montenegro in multiple cycles.
In 2016, local elections were held on the same day as the parliamentary elections in Budva, Kotor, Andrijevica and Gusinje. In 2017, local elections were held in four cities: Cetinje, Mojkovac, Petnjica and Tuzi.
In 2018, local elections were organized in several municipalities, in waves - Berane, Ulcinj, Plužine and 11 other municipalities, including the capital.
In August 2020, local elections were held simultaneously with the parliamentary elections in the municipalities of Budva, Kotor, Tivat, Andrijevica and Gusinje.
In October 2022, local elections were held in Podgorica and 13 other municipalities: Bijelo Polje, Bar, Budva, Danilovgrad, Žabljak, Zeta, Kolašin, Pljevlja, Plav, Plužine, Rožaje, Tivat and Šavnik.
The elections in Šavnik were not completed because members of the polling stations from the opposition coalition "For the Future of Šavnik", led by the former Democratic Front, did not allow some of the newly registered voters to vote, because, they claim, they were copied to support the DPS. At two polling stations, in the Municipality building and in the village of Kruševice, where 541 voters have the right to vote, voting took place nine times, the last time on December 18, 2022, when the elections were interrupted again, after which the Municipal Election Commission could not agree on repeating them.
In 2024, local elections were held in Budva, Andrijevica, Gusinje, Kotor and Podgorica, and in April 2025 in Nikšić and Herceg Novi.
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