Montenegro Parties Spar Over IDs Ahead of Poll

Montenegro's ruling and opposition parties have locked horns over the issue of old identification documents.

The issue has arisen ahead of presidential elections on April 7, as those lacking new biometric documents won't be able to vote.

Over half of million Montenegrins have the right to choose the new Montenegro’s head of state.

Only two candidates are in the race, Filip Vujanovic, the current president, and Miodrag Lekic, the main opposition leader.

Aanother potential candidate, Rade Bojovic, head of the political club Righteous Montenegro, failed to collect the more than 7,000 signatures that he needed to verify his candidacy.

Rasko Konjevic, the interior minister, said the ministry had conducted a campaign informing people that old IDs won't be valid starting from 2013.

But opposition parties have accused the ministry of not being efficient in replacing old documents with the new ones.

Konjevic rejected the claims, arguing that his ministry stood to benefit most from use of the new documents, without which the database of the ministry cannot be kept up to date.

However, Milutin Djukanovic, an MP from Democratic Front, the largest opposition formation, accused the authorities of manipulating the results of the recent local election in Niksic by using the invalidity of the old documents.

"The interior ministry was at disposal of the ruling coalition, because documents were changed only for its voters, while potential opposition voters were deprived of them," he claimed.