TIRANA – The Albanian Forum (ASH-LDSH), the New Democratic Force, the Perspective Movement and the Tuz Union have submitted to the Election Commission the list of candidates for MP, which is preceded by Nik Gjeloshaj, followed by Genc Nimanbegu and Nikolle Camaj.
The coalition submitted 3,200 signatures in support of the list of the candidates who will run in the parliamentary elections due on August 30. This list counts 81 candidates and includes the complete Albanian geography in Montenegro from the Buna river coast to the Ibar springs, including Ulcinj, Tivar, Malësia, Plava Gucia and Rozhaja.
The other coalition – the Albanian coalition “Bashkë nji za” (A voice together), composed of the Democratic Party, UDSH, LDnëMZ, also submitted the electoral list.
“Bashkë nji za” coalition’s list of candidates was led by the chairman of the Democratic Party, Fatmir Gjeka, followed by the chairman of UDSH, Mehmed Zenka and the chairman of LDnëMZ, Saubih Mehmeti.
The two coalitions of ethnic Albanian parties in Montenegro failed to form a broad single new “Albanian List” coalition ahead of parliamentary elections due on August 30 despite the prompting of important Albanian diaspora organizations based in the US.
One of the Albanian List leaders, Nik Gjeloshaj, said as quoted by Balkan Insight that he had done everything he could to form a single coalition, saying it was clearly the wish of Albanians in both Montenegro and abroad. He also called on ethnic Albanians to vote for national parties.“This is a historic moment after the Albanian Forum won in Tuzi last year,” he said in the mainly Albanian coastal town of Ulcinj.
In March 2019, the Albanian Forum, an alliance of ethnic Albanian parties, won a historic first local election in the newly created municipality of Tuzi, taking half the seats on the council.
Montenegro is a multi-ethnic state in which no community has an absolute majority.
About 45 per cent of the population identify as Montenegrin and about 29 per cent as Serbian. Albanians make up roughly 5 per cent of the population, based mainly in the town of Tuzi, near the capital Podgorica, and in Ulcinj, on the Adriatic coast. In both towns, Albanian parties are part of the local ruling coalition.
In the last parliamentary election, in October 2016, three separate Albanian lists ran for parliament. Together, they won 9,790 votes, just half the ethnic Albanian electorate.
Under electoral rules in Montenegro, a party or coalition must win at least 3 percent of votes in order to enter parliament, but minorities can take seats if the total minority vote exceeds 3 percent of votes cast. In that case, the candidate list with the most votes enters the assembly.
In 2016, the Albanians Decisively bloc won most votes among Albanians and became part of Montenegro’s ruling coalition. Mehmet Zenka became minister for human and minority rights and Genci Nimanbegu was elected deputy speaker of parliament./argumentum.al
