The opposition believes that there are no conditions for fair and free elections, but a boycott is not an option

In the strongest opposition alliance, the Democratic Front (DF), they believe that the parliamentary elections could be held already at the beginning of September, when the negative effects of the coronavirus epidemic will not be so visible.

And the rest of the opposition have no doubt that the ruling coalition will use the fight against the epidemic for the election campaign, in what they consider to be a somewhat undemocratic environment.

However, they rule out boycotting the elections as an option, and they have no proposals for any kind of joint action.

Prime Minister Duško Marković recently said that there is nothing to postpone the elections, the deadline of which is October, calling on the part of the opposition, which believes that there are no conditions for holding them this year, to continue the dialogue on changes to the electoral legislation.

In Marković's DPS, however, they do not want to talk about the date of the elections, while in the opposition, they interpret the Prime Minister's statement as an announcement that we will go to the polls before the expected date.

"All this that the unconstitutionally and illegally formed NKT, led by Milutin Simović, is doing is preparations of the DPS to call elections even before October. According to some unofficial regime constructions, I would not be surprised if the elections were scheduled for September 6," Milan Knežević pointed out. , one of the leaders of the DF.

"The Democratic Party of Socialists certainly intends to call elections when it suits them most to carry out abuses, because after all, like all other Balkan political cowards, they are afraid of fair elections, afraid of the people, and afraid of equal conditions for holding elections ", said Momo Koprivica (Democratic Montenegro).

"It would be the first time in three decades, as far as I can remember, that the DPS called elections without any agreement with the opposition. And with the wartime DPS, that of Milosevic, we somehow agreed on the election conditions. This would be the first time that now this "European and Euro-Atlantic DPS" does not want an agreement on the elections", said Ivan Vujović (SDP).

The oppositionists are united in their view that the environment in which the elections should be held is rarely less democratic.

Electoral legislation has not been reformed, the judicial system is in a state of disrepair, as are the agencies and bodies that should deal with the electoral process.

Additionally, as the opposition claims, DPS managed to use the coronavirus pandemic for its campaign.

"It is a huge institutional deviation that shows us where we are, and we are where Freedom House told us, not SDP, but Freedom House told us, in the society of hybrid regimes," Vujović said.

"The only two laws proposed to the assembly by the Government and the DPS concern the electoral system. I will remind you, the law on financing of political entities and the law on local self-government were adopted," said Koprivica.

"They will behave as if nothing is happening, they will offer some solutions that suit them, and in the end they will accuse the opposition of obstruction and we will have elections according to the old election rules," said Knežević.

Although they are unanimous that there are no conditions for fair and free elections, the opposition will not boycott them for one reason or another, it is already clear now.

"It is quite certain that DPS will not organize elections in which she will be alone, although we had such a case in Nikšić. And surely they are already thinking about the formation of political entities as an alternative in case the opposition decides to boycott, so that we would immediately have an alternative DPS opposition, which would go to the elections and give it legitimacy," said Knežević.

"We are in favor of boycotting the parliamentary and all subsequent elections, until the conditions for holding fair and free elections are created. Also, for the boycott to make sense, we believe that such a decision by the entire parliamentary opposition is necessary," said Koprivica.

"We don't want to think in the categories of boycott at this moment. We still believe in the possibility of an agreement. The authorities are responsible for any epilogue that can lead the country to political and social instability, and a boycott would certainly be the way to that." said Vujović.

Apart from the opposition and some political analysts, estimates have already been heard that the DPS will schedule the elections before October, when we will probably already start to feel the economic crisis, as a result of the epidemic but also decades of economic policy that could produce an increase in unemployment and a drop in living standards.

That is why they believe that the strongest party that has sovereignly ruled Montenegro for three decades will not wait for voter dissatisfaction, but will perhaps use the beginning of September to win power for the tenth time in a row on the wings of success in the fight against COVID19.