The President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanović, has accused the country’s neighbour, Serbia, of interfering in the recently concluded August 30th parliamentary vote that saw the ruling party suffer a major setback with its inability to claim the required majority of 41 deputies in the 81-seat parliament.

Speaking in a televised interview on Tuesday, Djukanović tied his party’s poorer performance to “people’s dissatisfaction with some policies,” low living standards, and Serbia’s decision to wage “media and political aggression” ahead of the polls.

“President Vučić and … Serbia … want to interfere in the internal matters of other countries and … they want to revitalise the Greater Serbian nationalism,” Djukanović said to Newsmax Adria TV while criticising the role of Serbia and its leader, Aleksandar Vučić, in Montenegro, a third of whose 620,000-strong population is ethnically Serbian.

Djukanović’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which has governed the tiny Adriatic state for three decades, won about 35 per cent of the vote, well short of a majority and raising the possibility of a new coalition government led by an alliance of pro-Serbian parties.

Serbia Denies Involvement

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić dismissed his charge, saying Montenegro was not “in any way threatened by Serbia.”

“Djukanović wants to gain political points by false stories about Montenegro’s vulnerability, instead of focusing on the needs and problems of its citizens,” she said.

No Clear Winner

In Sunday’s parliamentary election, an alliance of Serb nationalist parties named For the Future of Montenegro won 32.5 per cent of the vote, and a centrist grouping that is also opposed to Djukanović’s DPS, Peace is Our Nation, got 12.5 per cent.

Montenegro, under the DPS and Djukanović, broke with Serbia and Russia to join NATO in 2017 after declaring independence from Serbia in 2006.

Djukanović himself does not face re-election until 2023.