Constitutional Assembly elections were held in the newly-independent

Republic of Montenegro A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

on 10 September 2006. Prime Minister

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović ( cnr, Мило Ђукановић, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician serving as the President of Montenegro since 2018, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2003. He also served as the Prime Minister ...

Coalition for a European Montenegro The European Montenegro ( cnr, Европскa Црна Горa, script=Cyrl, cnr, Evropska Crna Gora, label=none, script=Latn; abbr. ECG) was the ruling political alliance in Montenegro headed by Milo Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialist ...

(based around the

Democratic Party of Socialists The Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro ( cnr, Демократска партија социјалиста Црне Горе, Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore, DPS) is a populist political party in Montenegro. A former long-tim ...

) won a majority in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, winning 41 of the 81 seats. The opposition blocs together won 34 seats; 12 for the Serb List (SL) and 11 each for the Socialist People's Party (SNP)-led list and the

Movement for Changes Movement for Changes (, PZP) is a right-wing populist, sovereignist and conservative political party in Montenegro. Its current leader is Nebojša Medojević, the party's founder. History Party was founded by a group of economists and academic ...

(PzP). Other seats were won by parties representing national minorities. As the opposition conceded defeat, DPS leader Đukanović stated "These elections showed that Montenegro is stable and firm on its European path."

Electoral system

Of the 81 seats in Parliament, 76 were elected by proportional representation in a nationwide constituency and five were elected in a special constituency for the Albanian minority. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1370 The

electoral threshold The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of the primary vote that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can ...

was set at 3% and seats allocated using the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest ...

. Closed lists were used with a single list for both constituencies, although parties only had to award half their seats according to the order of the list, with the remaining half free for them to allocate.

Campaign

The main campaign issues were the economy, unemployment, the environment and European integration.Nohlen & Stöver, p1367 The government campaigned on the recent successful independence referendum and international recognition of the country. Opposition parties criticised the performance of state institutions, as well as criticising their politicisation, but suffered from internal divisions and the formation of new parties. Although the Đukanović government made a decision not to pay for parties' election campaigns using state funds, it eventually relented and funding was distributed equally between all parties.

Opinion polls

One opinion poll leading up to the elections suggested Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) could win as much as 30%-45% of the vote, but that would still leave him needing a coalition partner. According to the same poll, the three pro-Serb opposition alliances could each win between 10% and 20% of the vote - potentially enough to unseat the Prime Minister if they succeed in uniting against him. All three claimed their main priority was to replace Đukanović. However, the Prime Minister himself did not rule out joining forces with the main opposition bloc, led by the Socialist People's Party.Q&A: Montenegro votes
BBC News, 11 September 2006

Results

References

{{Montenegrin elections Elections in Montenegro

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

Parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...