Government & politics — Montenegro
Government structure, legal system, citizenship, and international relations.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Government & politics at a glance
Government structure, legal system, citizenship, and international relations. Key figure for Montenegro: none
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Identity & names
- Full Country Name
none
- Country Name
Montenegro
- Local - Long
none
- Local - Short
Crna Gora
- Former Name
People's Republic of Montenegro, Socialist Republic of Montenegro, Republic of Montenegro
- Etymology- history of name
the country's name locally as well as in most Western European languages means "black mountain" and refers to the dark coniferous forests on Mount Lovcen and the surrounding area
- Independence
- 3 June 2006 (from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro)
- notable earlier dates: 13 March 1852 (Principality of Montenegro established)
- 13 July 1878 (Congress of Berlin recognizes Montenegrin independence)
- 28 August 1910 (Kingdom of Montenegro established)
- National Holiday
Statehood Day, 13 July (1878, the day the Berlin Congress recognized Montenegro as the 27th independent state in the world, and 1941, the day the Montenegrins staged an uprising against fascist occupiers and sided with the partisan communist movement)
Political system
- Government Type
parliamentary republic
- Constitution
- history: several previous;
- latest adopted 22 October 2007 amendments: proposed by the president of Montenegro, by the government, or by at least 25 members of the Assembly; passage of draft proposals requires two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly, followed by a public hearing; passage of draft amendments requires two-thirds majority vote of the Assembly; changes to certain constitutional articles, such as sovereignty, state symbols, citizenship, and constitutional change procedures, require three-fifths majority vote in a referendum; amended 2013
- Legal System:
civil law
- Executive Branch:
- chief of state: Pre
- ministers act as cabinet elections/appointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 19 March 2023 with a runoff on 2 April 2023 (next to be held in 2028); prime minister nominated by the president,
- approved by the Assembly election results: 2023: Jakov MILATOVIC elected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Milo DUKANOVIC (DPS) 35.4%, Jakov MILATOVIC (Europe Now!) 28.9%, Andrija MANDIC (DF) 19.3%, Aleksa BECIC (DCG) 11.1%, other 5.3%; percent of vote in second round - Jakov MILATOVIC 58.9%, Milo DUKANOVIC 41.1% 2018: Milo DJUKANOVIC elected president in first round; percent of vote - Milo DJUKANOVIC (DPS) 53.9%, Mladen BOJANIC (independent) 33.4%, Draginja VUKSANOVIC (SDP) 8.2%, Marko MILACIC (PRAVA) 2.8%, other 1.7%
- Legislative Branch:
Description
unicameral Assembly or Skupstina (81 seats; members directly elected in a single nationwide constituency by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)
Elections
last held on 11 June 2023 (next to be held in June 2027)
Election Results
- percent of vote by party/coalition - Europe Now! 25.5%, Together! 23.2%, For the Future of Montenegro 14.7%, Aleksa and Dritan - Count Bravely 12.5%, BP 7.1%, SNP-DEMOS 3.1%, Albanian Forum 1.9%, HGI 0.7%
- seats by party/coalition Europe Now! 24, Together! 21, For the Future of Montenegro 13, Aleksa and Dritan - Count Bravely 11, BP 6, SNP-DEMOS 2, Albanian Forum 2, Albanian Alliance 1, HGI 1;
Composition
as of October 2023 - men 64, women 17, percent of women 21%
- Judicial Branch:
- highest court(s): Supreme Court or Vrhovni Sud (consists of the court president, deputy president, and 15 judges); Constitutional Court or Ustavni Sud (consists of the cou
- rt president and 7 judges) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court president proposed by general session of the Supreme Court and elected by the Judicial Council, a 9-member body consisting of judges, lawyers designated by the Assembly, and the minister of judicial affairs; Supreme Court president elected for a single renewable, 5-year term; other judges elected by the Judicial Council for life; Constitutional Court judges - 2 proposed by the president of Montenegro and 5 by the Assembly, and elected by the Assembly; court president elected from among the court members; court president elected for a 3-year term,
- other judges serve 9-year terms subordinate courts: Administrative Courts; Appellate Court; Commercial Courts; High Courts; basic courts
- Regions or States:
25 municipalities (opstine, singular - opstina); Andrijevica, Bar, Berane, Bijelo Polje, Budva, Cetinje, Danilovgrad, Gusinje, Herceg Novi, Kolasin, Kotor, Mojkovac, Niksic, Petnjica, Plav, Pljevlja, Pluzine, Podgorica, Rozaje, Savnik, Tivat, Tuzi, Ulcinj, Zabljak, Zeta
- Political Parties and Leaders:
- Albanian Alliance (electoral coalition includes FORCA, PD, DSCG)
- Albanian Alternative or AA [Nik DELJOSAJ]
- Albanian Democratic League or LDSH [Nicola CAMAJ]
- Albanian Forum (electoral coalition includes AA, LDSH, UDSH)
- Aleksa and Dritan - Count Bravely! [Aleksa BECIC] (electoral coalition includes Democrats, URA)
- Bosniak Party or BS [Ervin IBRAHIMOVIC]
- Civic Movement United Reform Action or United Reform Action or URA [Dritan ABAZOVIC]
- Croatian Civic Initiative or HGI [Adrian VUKSANOVIC]
- Democratic Alliance or DEMOS [Miodrag LEKIC]
- Democratic League in Montenegro or DSCG [Mehmet BARDHI]
- Democratic Montenegro or Democrats [Aleksa BECIC]
- Democratic Party of Socialists or DPS [Danijel ZIVKOVIC, acting]
- Democratic People's Party or DNP [Milan KNEZEVIC]
- Democratic Union of Albanians or UDSH [Mehmet ZENKA]
- Europe Now! [Milojko SPAJIC]
- For the Future of Montenegro or ZBCG [Milan KNEZEVIC] (coalition includes NSD, DNP, RP)
- Liberal Party or LP [Andrija POPOVIC]
- New Democratic Power or FORCA [Nazif CUNGU]
- New Serb Democracy or NSD or NOVA [Andrija MANDIC]
- Social Democrats or SD [Damir SEHOVIC]
- Socialist People's Party or SNP [Vladimir JOKOVIC]
- Together! (electoral coalition includes DPS, SD, LP, UDSH)
- United Montenegro or UCG [Goran DANILOVIC] (split from DEMOS)
- Workers' Party or RP [Maksim VUCINIC]
- Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
- Citizenship Criteria:
- no citizenship by descent only: at least one paren
- no residency requirement for naturalization: 10 years
Capital & time
- Capital Name
Podgorica; note - Cetinje retains the status of "Old Royal Capital"
- Capital - geographic coordinate
42 26 N, 19 16 E
- Capital Time Difference
UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Daylight Savings Time
+1 hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
International role
- International Organization Participation:
CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (NGOs), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, NATO, OAS (observer), OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, SELEC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNHRC, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO note: Montenegro is an EU candidate country whose satisfactory completion of accession criteria is required before being granted full EU membership
- International Law Organization Participation:
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
- Diplomatic Representation from US:
chief of mission
Ambassador Judy Rising REINKE (since 20 December 2018) embassy: Dzona Dzeksona 2, 81000 Podgorica mailing address: 5570 Podgorica Place, Washington DC 20521-5570
telephone
[382] (0) 20-410-500
FAX
[382] (0) 20-241-358
Email address and website
- PodgoricaACS@state.gov
- https://me.usembassy.gov/
- Diplomatic Representation in the US:
chief of mission
Ambassador (vacant); Chargé d'Affaires Linda CAMAJ (since 7 December 2023)
chancery
1610 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20009
telephone
[1] (202) 234-6108
FAX
[1] (202) 234-6109
Email address and website
- usa@mfa.gov.me
consulate(s) general
New York