FRY - strategic goal of DPS (1996)

The election program of the DPS, in the parliamentary elections in Montenegro (1996), displayed under the slogan "Surely", expressed its quintessence as follows: "The Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro remains faithful to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Montenegro and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is an expression of the will of the majority of Montenegrin citizens, and its constitution was one of the basic goals of the DPS. The citizens of Montenegro consider the FRY as their homeland where they want to live freely and equally, and DPS makes a great contribution to its development" (See about it: ""DPS-Sigurno", "Pobjeda", number 11066, dated October 1, 1996, Podgorica , p. 11.)

During the election campaign, for the parliamentary elections (which were held on November 3, 1996), the DPS treated the Narodna sloga coalition and its leaders with an evident trend of demonizing and stigmatizing it. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Montenegro and the Vice-President of the DPS, Milo Đukanović, at the pre-election meeting of the DPS in Bar (1996), fiercely criticized the coalition of liberals and nationals (Narodna sloga), characterizing it as "unnatural", among other things, spreading misinformation, told the Montenegrin liberals (LSCG ) and especially to Slavko Perović "that they knelt in front of Tuđman and kissed the chessboard, and he said about S. Perović that 'he forged and dreamed up plans for some kind of independent Montenegro with the Ustasha masterminds'". (Quoted by: Branko Vojičić, "They were for war", "Monitor", Vol. VII, No. 312, dated October 11, 1996, p. 32.) Public discrediting of Narodna Sloga by DPS, in the political struggle for votes, came to the fore at the election convention of the DPS in Nikšić on October 16, 1996. At that gathering of the ruling party, its vice-president M. Đukanović emphasized, among other things, that "only grumpy hilists from the opposition claim that Montenegro is oppressed in Yugoslavia , citizens are not equal, crime flourishes, the mafia reigns and falsifies economic reforms". Đukanović accused members of the LSCG leadership of "kneeling before Tuđman, humbly offering him war reparations." When the initiative was launched to lift the sanctions on the FRY and the RS, our political opponents begged that this should not be done. We remember when they called NATO bombers to demolish Montenegro and when they denounced everything that we would possibly import for the needs of the citizens during the time of sanctions from behind the parliamentary rostrum". ("Wealth is the people's trust", "Pobjeda", number 11082, dated October 17, 1996, p. 9.)

The president of DPS and RCG Momir Bulatović, MSc, as well as his closest associates from the top of the ruling nomenclature, focused attention during the election campaign on the rival coalition Narodna Sloga and its leaders. At the DPS promotion in Kuči (Ubla) near Podgorica on October 19, 1996, he denied the claims of the Narodna Sloga leader, who accused him of being a vassal towards Slobodan Milošević ("that Bulatović was carrying a bag for Slobodan Milošević in Dayton"), that he would, then, emphasized and exploited the rumor that S. Perović was in New York "in a Muslim-Croatian delegation, criticizing our country and demanding that the sanctions remain, and that the NATO pact intervene both in the Republika Srpska and in the FRY". Bulatović announced the determined position of the republican leadership and the party he leads regarding the commitment of Montenegro to the preservation and consolidation of the FRY, stressing: "We and Serbia live in brotherhood and harmony in our common home of the FRY. We want that country to be more successful and better every day. ("The Party of the Future", "Victory", Podgorica, No. 11082, dated October 20, 1996, p.14)

A similar radical discourse and repertoire of accusations against the leader of Narodna Sloga - S Perović and prof. Dr. Novak Kilibarde, M. Đukanović repeated on the 19th. October 1996 at the DPS election promotion in Sutomor. For Dr. N. He told Kilibardu that "when he was expelled from the League of Communists, he begged in Nikšić circles to be reinstated. Later, he crossed the path from Greater Serb to anti-Serb and with the leader of the Liberal Alliance he created a political coalition whose goal is the destruction of the FRY. They might have succeeded in that if there was no DPS, the guarantor of the stability and prosperity of the FRY". ("Surely without competition", "Pobjeda", number 11082, dated 20. October 1996, p. 14.) Svetozar Marović, president of the Assembly of the Republic of Montenegro, vice-president and ideologist of DPS, presented the strategic and essential ideological-political commitments of the ruling party during the election campaign. He presented the positions of the DPS on state and national issues, that is, identity problems, stressing that the DPS stands for a stable FRY included in the international community and an equal Montenegro within it; that this party is against the review of the state-legal status of Montenegro in a common state with Serbia; against a new referendum; motivation for the restoration of sovereign and independent Montenegro. Marović pointed out that the ruling party advocates for the official Serbian language to be the only one in official use in the Republic, declaring against the introduction of the Montenegrin language. He explicitly declared that DPS is for the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, and against the autocephaly of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and its Metropolitan Mr. Antonija Abramović, accusing the leaders of Narodna Sloga S. Perović and Dr. N. Kilibard that they are the antithesis of everything that DPS stands for. He announced that the Narodna Sloga coalition prefers "Montenegrin separatism", that is, "breaking up the FRY". Sr. Marović, on behalf of the ruling DPS, accused the leader of the People's Party, Prof. Dr. N. Kilibarda for a radical change in ideology and politics, stating that Kilibarda accepted the sources of political commitment of Montenegrin liberals, that is, that he adhered to their ideology and policy for an independent Montenegro, and against the survival of the FRY. In this sense, S. At the DPS promotion in Herceg Novi, Marović pointed out that "Slavko Perović has been crouching in Novak Kilibarda for a long time", and that in this campaign "Kilibarda only discovered him now", which should have meant that the leader of the People's Party accepted the ideological and political worldviews of S . Perović. Marović presented that Narodna sloga is an unnatural coalition of completely different political parties, so at that gathering he asked himself and at the same time answered: "How can those who are for and those who are against Yugoslavia, who are for a sovereign Montenegro, be together politically there can be those who are for the SPS and those who are against it, how can those who are for the autocephalous church and those who are against it be together, those who were in favor of defending Yugoslavia and those who accused Yugoslavia of various international waiting rooms, how can those who do not believe in the will of the people of Montenegro and demand a new referendum be together. No way. They cannot be together, that's why they are not together. They became one. Neither the People's Party nor the Liberal Alliance exists anymore. There is only one hatred and two leaders... Montenegro has no time for them. Montenegro is going forward, not back". He stated that CG "goes safely along the paths of good." That good is peace for everyone in Montenegro and the FRY, material progress and social security, democratic life and respect for the differences that exist between us, an open society and a respected place for Montenegro and Yugoslavia in Europe and the world". Ideologist and vice-president of DPS S. Marović concludes that with DPS "there was and is no insecurity, that's why we win for sure". (Cited according to: Youtube, Elections 1996 - S. Marović - Herceg Novi. This is an audio and video recording from the DPS promotion in Herceg Novi in ​​1996 - RTCG report.)

The ruling party had no qualms that the focus of its election campaign should be based on attacks on Narodna slog, because it considered it the only serious competition, an opponent that could confuse its electoral calculations and concepts of preserving positions of power and authority. To this end, at the DPS election promotion in Bijela, S. Marović said that in the elections the DPS "will win the strongest and biggest victory so far" and added: "It will be a victory for a measured and reasonable CG, a victory for a party that does not divide, that helps, who understands, who knows how to forgive many insults and bestiality for the sake of the common good". Marović further explained: "Citizens who vote for DPS will vote for a safe and stable Yugoslavia, for a respected, respected and dignified Montenegro in it." Citizens who will vote for the so-called People's harmony, they vote for those who do not recognize the referendum on the common life of Serbia and Montenegro, do not recognize this kind of FRY and demand a new referendum, and that at a time when sanctions are being lifted and FRY is returning to the international community". The DPS ideologue then continued: "Citizens who will vote for the so-called People vote for those who do not respect the will of the people about the need for a common life between Serbia and Montenegro. Who votes for those who ask us to deal with ourselves again, investigating who is really for a sovereign Montenegro and who is against, who is green and who is white, votes for our return to the past, votes for our insecurity and uncertainty that may be able to satisfy Mr. Perović and Mr. Kilibarda, but not Montenegro, because it costs it unnecessarily and distances it from the world, a peaceful, democratic, reasonable and advanced life. Citizens who vote for DPS know that they are voting for respect for all religions, all people, all nations and nationalities. They vote for one Orthodox church, they vote that as Montenegrins or Serbs they have their native Serbian language. However, citizens who vote for the so-called People's consensus votes for the autocephalous church, they vote for Mr. Antoni, they vote for Mr. N. Kilibardu and for Mr. S. Perović, they also vote for the new Montenegrin language, they vote for everything and against everything". (Youtube Svetozar Marović 1996-Bijela, RTCG report, sound and video.).

During the election campaign, DPS was proud of its role in the "war for peace" (1991) and emphasized that it was unconditionally in favor of the survival of the state union of Montenegro and Serbia (FRY), emphasizing that the Narodna Sloga coalition was a representative of Montenegrin secessionism and an emanation of "anti-Serbism". For the leadership of the DPS, the concept of "FRY without an alternative" was primary, and Narodna Sloga in the perspective of the authorities was a synonym, a metonym for the destroyer of the "new Yugoslavia". Dr. Novak Kilibarda and Slavko Perović are also presented by the leadership of the DPS as a paradigm of action against the SPC in Montenegro, as politicians who want to abolish the Serbian language and replace it with an "invented" Montenegrin language, as party leaders who act in favor of the CPC and its leader Mr. Antonija Abramović, and against the metropolitan of the Montenegrin littoral SPC Mr. Amfilohije Radović, etc. DPS, in the election discourse, placed itself on the "bumper" of Serbianism and holiness, which is also confirmed by S. Marović's speech in Grblje during the election promotion of DPS in October 1996. Namely, then Marović specified that Grbalj, his hometown, would reject the politics of the Narodna the agreement of its leaders Perović and Kilibarda. At that meeting, criticizing Narodna slog and its leaders, among other things, the main ideologist of DPS said: "Grbalj will not vote for those who want to divide Montenegro and Serbia, for those who want to separate us from our religion, church and customs." We don't need Antonije, we have our own churches, we have our own memories and customs. Grbalj will not vote for those who want to abolish our mother tongue, because our language was and remains Serbian, and they want another, so let them invent it. Grbalj will not vote for those who today call our bravest sons, who fought for Yugoslavia and its borders, traitors. And in the last war, Grbalj had more volunteers than Belgrade". (Quoted by: Esad Kočan, "Dreams of a Grbalj warrior", "Monitor", Podgorica, No. 313, dated October 18, 1996, p. 5.)