Montenegro parliament paves the way for early elections

(PODGORICA) - Montenegro's parliament on Thursday voted to shorten its mandate and dissolve itself to pave the way for early elections, so the government can go into EU entry talks with a new mandate.

The parliament's mandate was set to expire in eight months but now elections are expected in mid-October. A precise date has yet to be set by President Filip Vujanovic.

A total of 47 deputies in the 81-seat parliament voted for a shortening of the assembly's mandate, an initiative of the ruling coalition.

"Montenegro faces important obligations in the process of EU accession talks," the ruling parties said before the vote.

"That is why it is important that state bodies -- the government and the assembly -- enter this phase of EU accession with a full four-year mandate."

The ruling coalition of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Socialist People's Party (SNP) had already agreed to join forces in the vote. They have ruled Montenegro together since the late 1990s.

The latest opinion polls show that the DPS enjoys the support of 44 percent of voters while the SNP has 17 percent. The other parties are backed by less than 10 percent of voters.

Montenegro, a tiny Balkans country, with a population of just 650,000, kicked off accession talks with the European Union last month. It joined Turkey and Iceland, also in negotiations toward ultimate EU accession, a process that generally takes years.

Of the six former Yugoslav republic -- Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia -- only the latter joined the EU in 2004. Croatia is set to become the bloc's 28th member in July 2013.

The remaining three countries are in different phases of their EU path.