Montenegro says attack thwarted

20 Serbs held in election plot that included seizing premier

Police in Podgorica, Montenegro, escort a man arrested in a suspected Serbian plot to attack Sunday’s parliamentary election and seize the country’s prime minister.
Police in Podgorica, Montenegro, escort a man arrested in a suspected Serbian plot to attack Sunday’s parliamentary election and seize the country’s prime minister.

PODGORICA, Montenegro -- Police in Montenegro have arrested 20 Serbs suspected of planning politically motivated armed attacks after the polls closed in Sunday's parliamentary election.

Police Director Slavko Stojanovic said those arrested Saturday night came from Serbia and planned to collect automatic weapons to attack state institutions, police and possibly state officials after the vote.

Serbia's former special forces commander, Bratislav Dikic, who was removed from the post in 2013 because of allegations of criminal activities, was among those arrested.

Stojanovic said they were accused of "forming a criminal organization and terrorism." He said one Serbian is still on the run.

The prosecutor's office said the group planned to attack people who gather in front of the parliament when the vote results are proclaimed, then storm the building in the capital and declare the victory "of certain parties" in the election. The statement said he group also planned to arrest Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, whose Democratic Party of Socialists favors close relations with the West.

Police vans were seen taking the handcuffed suspects to the prosecutor's office in Podgorica, the capital.

Complete official election results are expected Tuesday. According to unofficial results early today, the pro-West ruling party won the most votes, but it did not secure enough support to govern alone and assure Montenegro's course into NATO and other Western institutions.

The independent CeMI election monitoring group said that with 100 percent of the vote counted, the Democratic Party of Socialists won 41 percent, while two opposition parties -- the Democratic Front and the Key Coalition -- have 20 percent and 11 percent, respectively. Other parties split the remaining vote and will take 19 seats in the small Balkan country's 81-seat parliament. The monitoring group used its own vote count at the polling stations.

Both the ruling party and the opposition claimed they have enough seats with other parties to form the country's future government. The outcome of those negotiations will determine whether the state continues on its Western course or turns back to its traditional ally Russia.

Djukanovic told his supporters that he will soon start negotiations with potential coalition partners.

"A big power has moved against the small Montenegro, but we have succeeded," Djukanovic said, referring to Russia and its open support of the opposition. "Tonight we can safely say that Montenegro is heading toward the European integrations and we will soon ratify the accession agreement with NATO."

Russia strongly opposes the expansion of NATO in European ex-communist countries it considers part of its "strategic interests." The West is wary of Russian influence in the still-volatile region, which was engulfed in bloody civil wars in the 1990s.

The election was seen as the toughest challenge yet to Djukanovic's quarter-century rule. Opposition leaders have accused Djukanovic of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement and say he was trying to scare voters by suggesting that chaos would prevail if he loses.

"The only chaos will be within Djukanovic's Cabinet," opposition Democratic Front leader Andrija Mandic said after he voted Sunday. "I have no doubt that the opposition will show its strength and that the Democratic Front will become future framework of the Montenegro government."

And Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic hinted that Saturday's arrests might have been staged by the government.

"It's a strange day on which all this is happening, that is all I will say," Vucic said.

Information for this article was contributed by Jovana Gec of The Associated Press.

A Section on 10/17/2016

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