EU says Montenegro must solve election deadlock

Following a dispute over the result of Sunday’s presidential election, the EU said Montenegro needs to build up public trust in its institutions.

“We expect all political parties in Montenegro to work constructively within Montenegrin institutions and undertake measures which increase public trust in them,” Petar Stano, spokesperson for the EU Enlargement Commissioner, said on Wednesday.

He said the EU had considered the conclusions of international observers from OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE/ODIHR, which were that the election was “professionally and efficiently run”.

But he noted that the EU shared the observation of the OSCE/ODIHR that “mistrust in public institutions and the judiciary diminished public confidence in the electoral process”.