Jonica and Lalošević did not sign for Lekić

Vice Presidents of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) Milorad Bakić and Vasilije Lalošević did not sign the candidacy of Miodrag Lekić, although their party announced its support for an independent candidate.

In the copies of the books of signatures for Lekić's candidacy, which "Vijesti" had access to, there are no signatures of MP Snežana Jonica or the presidents of the municipal committees from Kotor, Beran and Cetinje.

In the media center of the SNP, they claim that the support of all officials was absent for technical reasons, explaining that they were not informed by Lekić's election headquarters when the signature books in the municipal election commissions will be closed.

Among the two thousand SNP signatories for Lekić's candidacy, there is no influential official from Andrijevica Veselin Bakić, nor the president of the municipal board in Bar, Gojko Đurašić. The president of the Kotor board, Branko Ivanović, and the first man of the SNP in Cetinje, Slobodan Čavor, did not give their signatures to Lekić.

Ivanović opposed the call of former SNP officials Milan Knežević and Predrag Bulatović for the membership to join the Democratic Front, while the head of the Cetinje committee was, along with Aleksandar Damjanović, the only one who, at the party's Main Committee session last August, was against the party leadership's negotiations on the conditions for entry in the Democratic Front (DF). He later explained that decision that the New Serbian Democracy and the Movement for Change (PZP) have people with whom the SNP "has nothing to talk to and from whom they only suffer blows".

The candidacy was supported by the president of the Beran board, Rade Vojvodić

The SNP started collecting signatures for an independent opposition candidate after the unanimous decision of the party's Main Committee to support Lekić in the elections. In order to practically show support, the party organized a group collection of signatures in all Montenegrin cities, during which over two thousand signatures were collected. The action was started by party president Srđan Milić in the municipal election commission in Budva, calling on supporters not to allow only one presidential candidate to meet the requirements for the election race. Officials of the Podgorica board, led by Velizar Kaluđerović and Damjanović, also signed massively for Lekić.

In the Media Center, Milić's parties claim that no one from Lekić's headquarters informed them that the signature books would be closed. The SNP started with organized signing on February 13, while Lekić submitted his candidacy to the State Election Commission (SEC) on February 21.

"Unfortunately, we were not informed about the date of withdrawal of the books from the MEC, so a part of our members and sympathizers, including the officials you mention, were deprived of the opportunity to sign their support, even though they had the intention to do so," they claim in the media center. SNP, stating that they hope it is an "inadvertent omission by Lekić's staff".

SNP: We gave two-thirds of the signatures

In the media center, they state that two-thirds of the 8 signatures were secured for Lekić from that party. According to information from that party, 200 SNP members supported Lekić.

"Given that the SNP, through its activities, secured two-thirds of the total collected signatures of support for Mr. Lekić, or the number 5.124, we considered it elementary correctness to be informed by his Election Headquarters when the signature books will be withdrawn," they state in the media center.

According to copies of books that "Vijesti" had access to, Lekić collected 456 signatures in Bar, while 519 citizens supported him in Berane. 94 citizens in Kotor signed for Lekić's candidacy.