Are you worried about this title? Are you scared? Why are you running away from the future? If he plays it right and if the situation suits him, the combination could be such that after the 2027 elections, he will be cool Andrija Mandic can be the Prime Minister of Montenegro.
It seems that the former Democratic Front is going through a turbulent period, but it is forgotten that no one has ever parted ways so gracefully and smoothly as the Mandić team. Knezevic i Medojevic. As abrupt, bold, fierce, sometimes banal and unpredictable as they were, they acted extremely calmly when the three of them appeared together at a press conference a few years ago, without much fanfare declared the end of the coalition and Medojević went “about his business”. This was unusual because almost all political breakups up until then had ended in spats, gossip and years of non-communication.
We'll see if this potential split between Mandić and Knežević will follow the same pattern as when Medojević left. For now, they seem completely different in terms of narrative, Knežević seems oppositional, and Mandić holds his position firmly.
The point is that if the PES continues to act as it has done so far, with everyone telling their own story, by the next elections there will certainly be at least two new movements that will borrow some votes from them. This always happens with new movements, they borrow votes from those that were recently formed. The PES does not have a clear communication strategy, the reactions are late and inadequate, they do everything on a delayed basis and when the timing has passed. Others are already grabbing potential topics for themselves, and what the PES has been pushing for so far, increasing salaries and pensions and a seven-hour working day, is no longer a hook. The EU is not enough bait either, because everyone is talking about that path.
That's why Mandić can offer something new, he is changing, and they say he hasn't changed, he is the government and no one believed in it, he plays geopolitically wisely and has made far fewer mistakes than everyone else expected of him. In the elections, he will very likely receive the votes of the solid electorate from before, as well as those who see in him the firmness and determination that the others do not have.
After the elections, it is very possible that PES will be on a seesaw. They will be in a situation like in the movie Matrix, having to choose between the red pill or the blue pill. They will have to choose one, and in any case, it is possible that they will lose in the long run and profit in the short run. Because after the next elections, PES will be forced to choose a new or newer partner.
If PES chooses Mandić for the dance, maybe Mandić will be the prime minister. If PES chooses DPS as a companion, PES will have its own prime minister, but voters will not forgive them for that in the next few elections. In any case, the thesis in the title is not impossible at all, no matter how much some people are surprised. Mandić has obviously been waiting for a long time, training, and these are his five minutes.
If the day comes when Mandić, as prime minister, brings Montenegro into the EU, it will be interesting to watch the NGO sector hypocritically laugh and forcefully applaud the finish of that journey. It would be an interesting sitcom with the roles reversed.
Bonus video:
