Montenegro’s central election body, DIK, said on February 20 it has decided not to approve Milojko Spajic, the leader of Europe Now party, as a presidential candidate as he has dual citizenship.

Spajic was seen as a real threat to current President Milo Djukanovic. Critics of the DIK said the decision was politically motivated, while others claimed that Spajic has deceived Montenegrins.

According to DIK, Spajic asked for Serbian citizenship to be cancelled on February 14 – two days before filing official documents to run in the presidential election on March 19. However, although he has filed the request, Spajic technically is still a Serbian citizen, which makes him ineligible to run for president, according to Montenegrin legislation.

DIK’s members were divided in taking the decision, with several of them insisting that the decision should only be taken after the interior ministry completes its probe launched earlier in February. Three members of DIK thought that Spajic’s application should be approved, while four were against and three did not vote.

Spajic reacted to DIK’s decision, saying it has shown that his rivals, Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the far-right pro-Russian Democratic Front (DF), are working in cooperation. Their members of DIK either voted against Spajic’s candidacy or abstained.

“I am not surprised by DIK’s decision,” Spajic said at press conference as quoted by public broadcaster RTCG.

He accused the DPS and the DF of striking a deal to work against him on the day he has announced his candidacy.

The DF’s candidate, Andrija Mandic, has been approved by DIK, while the DPS is yet to announce its candidate.

Spajic also said that Europe Now’s co-leader Jakov Milatovic is his nomination for the party’s candidate for president now. He added that the party will decide on its next nomination within days.

Spajic also said he authorised a lawyer to terminate his Serbian citizenship back in 2020. He became a Serbian citizen as a teenager.

“Without knowing that this would cause me a problem, the lawyer decided to wait for registration of my apartment and some other tax issues. I, not having time, left that to the lawyer. I do not want to minimise my guilt. I was mistaken and I have deceived others,” Spajic said.

He added he was informed about the situation by his lawyer and requested the termination of his Serbian citizenship on February 15.

Meanwhile, the DF said that Spajic was responsible for his disqualification from the race as he had lied about his citizenship. The DPS also responded that it was Spajic’s fault that he wanted to keep his Serbian citizenship, which made him ineligible to be a presidential candidate.