Damjanovic believes assessment that NATO invitation to Montenegro would determine the date of early elections is pretty awkward, although it could be heard increasingly often these days. In his opinion there are two reasons for that.
“First, all constituents of the ruling coalition – exactly seven parties – support joining NATO, and their position would not be significantly changed whether we get the invitation or not or had the elections been held now or in next September”, Damjanovic told the news agency MINA.
Moreover, if the Parliament voted on accepting potential invitation, the support is likely to be higher, because the MPs, for example, for the opposition Positive Montenegro, and perhaps some representatives of other 11 opposition parties, would also vote “yes”, Damjanovic said. Therefore, it could be said there was the two-thirds support in the Parliament.
“Of course, position of the SNP is unequivocal – a referendum on the issue should be held in order for citizens to make the decision. The two-thirds support for NATO accession in the Parliament absolutely does not correspond to the only one-third support among citizens, as the frequent surveys show”, Damjanovic said.
Another reason, he believes, is that an agreement on shortening current mandate and new elections date could not be reached between the Government and the opposition without the fulfilment of clearly defined electoral conditions and the full implementation the Election Law and fair electoral rules.
“It means that the Government or part of the ruling coalition can make the decision by itself and, again, it does not depend on getting NATO invitation”, Damjanovic said.
He concluded that NATO invitation would be used in election campaign, while unsolved economic problems, social division, decline in living standards, lack of employment opportunities and corruption and organized crime stay. As he said, these problems would not resolve on their own, with or without the famous invitation.
