A no-confidence motion passed by the Podgorica parliament on Saturday resulted in the loss of the majority that supported the government, paving the way for new political unrest in Montenegro, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The motion received 50 votes, while the rest of the 81-seat parliament voted to boycott the motion, with one vote against.

“We need elections and a stable government,” emphasized the initiator of the vote of no confidence, Deputy Daniel Zhivkovich.

The vote comes months after another vote of no confidence toppled the coalition government in February.

Political tensions have been high in Montenegro for several weeks, sparked by a controversial agreement signed between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church (CPS). The agreement provides, among other things, for the regulation of property rights of hundreds of monasteries and churches of the KPS in Montenegro, but part of the public opinion believes that it does not sufficiently protect the interests of the Montenegrin state.

President Milo Djukanovych has long been an ardent opponent of the Communist Party of Ukraine and is accused of wanting to nationalize church property. For weeks, Djukanovic, now in the opposition camp, used the deal to destabilize the government and hold early elections. As the architect of Montenegrin independence, he wants to reduce the influence of the KPS at all costs and seeks to strengthen a clear national identity, even if it means creating yet another independent Orthodox Church.

Religious issues, highly sensitive in the Balkan country, which became independent from Serbia in 2006, are one of the main reasons for the fall of the last two governments. A third of the country’s 620,000 residents consider themselves Serbs, and some nationalists deny a separate Montenegrin identity.

The CPS is the dominant religious institution, along with the minority Montenegrin Orthodox Church, and is not recognized by the Orthodox world. However, opponents of the Communist Party accuse it of serving the interests of Belgrade.