The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has opened its election observation mission for the March 29 2009 early parliamentary elections in Montenegro.

President Filip Vujanovic called early elections on January 27, two and half year's into the 81-seat Montenegrin parliament's four-year term.

According to the governing coalition, an early election date will help speed reforms - stating that a full four-year mandate is required to address the challenges posed by the economic crisis and that a renewed mandate will be an important first step to prepare the country for entrance into Euro-Atlantic structures, according to an OSCE report compiled after a delegation visited the country in late February.

Montenegro, which has a population estimated by the United Nations in 2008 to be about 598 000, has just less than 500 000 voters according to official figures, although the criteria for eligibility to vote are disputed.

The holding of the election itself is disputed. Opposition parties have said that the elections are being held before legislation is amended to take into account changes to the constitution.

Montenegro, which emerged as a sovereign state after a 55 per cent majority vote in May 2006 to break away from its state union with Serbia, is facing severe economic problems. On February 9 2009, media reports said that Montenegro planned to cut 30 000 jobs in the state sector.

The same day, aluminium workers demanded that they be paid arrear salaries and for an immediate restart to suspended production at Kombinat Aluminiuma Podgorica, a Russian-owned plant.

Foreign investment in the country has been dwindling, with a reverse of the trend in which Russians have been investing large sums in the country.

Overall, the global economic crisis has been taking its toll on Montenegro's candidacy for membership of the European Union.

Serbian news agency Beta reported on February 25 2009 that the EU Czech presidency had warned that the economic crisis would slow accession of new EU members, and specifically Montenegro's candidacy.

The announcement was made by Karel Schwarzenberg, Czech foreign minister, who said that the EU Council of Ministers session had not agreed to accept Montenegro's candidacy.

Schwarzenberg said, though, that he believed that it would be possible to reach an agreement at the session of foreign ministers in mid-March.

"There was a time when the EU looked forward to all such requests for candidacy, but now there is a certain reservation in the EU," he said.
 
"Montenegro is, in a way, unlucky that such a request (for EU candidacy) was submitted now," Schwarzenberg said, adding "people are cautious during an economic crisis."

The OSCE report said that meanwhile, all parties had begun to prepare for the early elections.

The party that has controlled government since the break up of the former Yugoslavia, the Party of Democratic Socialists (DPS) led by Milo Djukanovic, will likely run on a joint list with the Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by the speaker of parliament Ranko
Krivokapic, and the Croatian Civic Initiative (HGI).

Djukanovic became Montenegro's prime minister for a fifth time in February 2008, replacing Zeljko Sturanovic, who resigned on health grounds. Djukanovic (45) was in office either as president or prime minister between 1991 and 2006 and spearheaded the campaign for Montenegro's independence.

Discussions with both the Bosniak Party (BS) and the People's Party (NS) to further expand the coalition were also taking place.

Many opposition parties have seen themselves divided by internal competition since the 2008 presidential election.

"Despite the divisions, all parties are actively engaging in coalition negotiations," the OSCE report said.

The Socialist Peoples' Party (SNP), the only major opposition party not recently challenged by internal division, are in discussions on forming a joint list with Movement for Change (PzP) and New Serbian Democracy (NSD).

NSD emerged from the electoral ticket that ran as the Serb List in 2006, dominated by the Serb People's Party (SNS). In protest against the transformation of the Serb List into a party, smaller parties of the Serb List formed into the Serb National List. The largest opposition party elected to parliament in 2006, the PzP, also suffered internal divisions, with defecting members forming the party Democratic Centre (DC).

Ethnic Albanian parties are expected to run independently, as their constituents vote under a special procedure where five mandates are allocated to 70 polling stations with predominantly ethnic Albanian populations.

According to a previously announced schedule, election candidate lists were to be finalised by March 4 2009, and campaigning must end by March 27.