In early May 2018 Olivera Lakić, an investigative journalist from the Montenegrin daily newspaper Vijesti, was shot and wounded in front of her house in Podgorica after she published a series of articles about allegedly corrupt businesses involving top state officials and their families.
[10] All 39 opposition MPs (out of 81 in total) are boycotting Parliament since the constitution of its current convocation in December 2016, due to claims of electoral fraud at the 2016 parliamentary elections.
The largest opposition subject, Democratic Front (DF), decided to end the boycott and return to parliament in December 2017, as did newly formed United Montenegro (UGC).
[12] Protests started after the revelation of footage and documents that appear to implicate top officials in obtaining suspicious funds for the Đukanović' party.
[17] The political backgrounds of protesters and organisers are diverse, with both left-wing, liberal, moderate, and right-wing factions voicing opposition to the government.
[18] On 30 March, all 39 opposition MPs in the 81-seat parliament signed “Agreement for the Future”, proposed by the protest organizers a week before, pledging unity in the fight against the 30-year rule of Đukanović's party.
The organizers' main demands are his resignation, but also of Prime Minister Duško Marković and his cabinet, to form a technical government that would prepare the conditions for free and transparent elections.
[20] Protesters later demanded irrevocable resignations of the Montenegrin state-owned broadcaster, its council and the director general, accusing them of partiality and ruling-party propaganda.
[21][22] In August 2019 the opposition Democratic Montenegro and United Reform Action parties, although initially boycotted, both decided to participate in the future work of the board for electoral system reform, following the intervention of the European Union Delegation in Montenegro and European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in order to create conditions for holding fair and free elections in 2020.