Without rights for Serbs, there are no electoral reforms

The Democratic Front (DF) will not participate in electoral reforms if the changes to the Constitution do not ensure equality for the Serbian people and if technical governments are not formed, said DF Presidency member Milan Knežević. The President of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) also said that at the moment there are no minimum conditions for DF representatives to return to the Committee for Comprehensive Reform of Electoral and Other Legislation.

"The Democratic Front suspended the work of the Committee for the Reform of Electoral Legislation after Nebojša Medojević was unconstitutionally kidnapped at midnight on St. Peter Cetinjski Boulevard. At this moment, there is not even the slightest possibility that we will return to the Board. Without amendments to the Constitution that would ensure the equality of the Serbian people and without a technical government, even hypothetically there is no possibility to vote for the election law", Knežević said in an interview with "Vijesti" and pointed out that the idea of ​​a technical government was buried by the agreement of the ruling coalition and Democratic Montenegro on the work of the Committee for Electoral Reforms.

"The idea of ​​a technical government was buried the moment the Democrats and DPS jointly agreed and harmonized the amendments. After all, it is written unambiguously in the text of the agreement. Not a single letter mentions a technical government that would be formed on a parity basis and headed by a non-party figure. If it says, and I didn't see it properly, I would like someone to deny me".

How bad is the media war with the Democrats a message to opposition voters? Especially, due to the fact that you share power with them in Budva and Herceg Novi...

Opposition quarrels certainly cannot have a motivating effect on the opposition electorate and abstainers. I have no intention of dealing with the chronology of opposition fights, I'm even a bit tired of pointing out the obvious, but I cannot accept that it is only a political conflict between the DF and the Democrats. In the past twenty days, the public had the opportunity to see for themselves that our political views on the agreement reached by the Democrats with the DPS are identical to the views expressed by the SNP, URA, United, SDP, the Workers' Party and independent MP Aleksandar Damjanović. On one side we have 30 opposition MPs who believe that the deal caused irreparable damage to opposition unity, and on the other side you have nine MPs who convince the public that they should be trusted more than their own eyes.

There were elements of hate speech towards sexual minorities in Montenegro in certain announcements by the DF. Why didn't you distance yourself from such appearances?

The Front's statements were not directed against the LGBT community, but clearly targeted a number of members of this community in political entities and NGOs, who, abusing sexual orientation, communicate aggressive and heterophobic attitudes against the DF leader. I guess it is a more difficult qualification to tell a blatant lie that we boycotted the elections in Nikšić in order to get an acquittal in the so-called coup d'état. And the entire public knows that Andrija Mandić and I have been sentenced to five years in prison, that I have already been in prison for four months, and that Nebojsa Medojević and twelve DF officials are being staged for the so-called money laundering. For the sake of the public, the idea of ​​boycotting the Nikšić elections was proposed by the Democrats, not because of solidarity, but because of the fact that they would experience a debacle in those elections. How is it possible that only a month after the Nikšić elections, they forgot about "solidarity" and were the first to submit a list for the elections in Herceg Novi. And that in the days when SDT Milivoje Katnić filed an indictment against Mandić and me.

Criminal charges have also been filed against you because of that...

With great impatience, I await the announced court proceedings where our prosecutors will have to prove to what extent we violated their sexual freedom and feelings. I would like them to file criminal charges against MPs from national minority parties when they did not vote for the Law on Same-Sex Unions. At that time, no one led a media hunt against them, but they were declared jewels in the multi-confessional and multi-religious treasury of Montenegro.

Will you respond to the invitation of SDP president Draginja Vuksanović Stanković to negotiations? Do you think that the opposition can find a common language after numerous arguments?

I found out about the SDP invitation from the media, which indicates in advance that it is a media promotion of the new president of the SDP. Until we receive a written invitation with prepared material containing proposals and solutions for the emerging political crisis, I would not be more specific about possible participation in that meeting.

Will you respond to the possible protests announced by the Democrats and the "Resist" movement if a technical government is not formed by December 1?

I also learned from the media about the position on the joint protests of the Democrats and the "Resist" movement that would begin on December 1. It was set up according to the principle of "what would happen if it didn't happen", so I am convinced that even the signatories of that announcement do not believe in it. I guess it is clear to everyone that without the participation of the Front there are no mass, organized and uncalculating protests.

Support for Perović when we see buses from Ulcinj and Rožaj

Why weren't your representatives at the "Resist" meeting at the beginning of August?

The "Resist" movement fell apart a few months ago, these people do not have enough strength to negotiate. Džemal Perović destroyed the movement because he became a puppet of certain opposition leaders. This was stated by one of the leaders of the "Resist" movement, Demir Hodžić, and his statement represents the best x-ray of the real situation in the movement and its dependence on a number of political subjects. If someone does not see that protests in this format were killed, and by the organizers, who did not allow us to interfere because we were "too compromised", then it is no longer a matter of political blindness. Considering the DF's previous contribution to the protests and the daily minimization by the organizers and self-proclaimed leaders, I will personally insist on the DF Presidency to support Džemal Perović, only when we see bus columns from Ulcinj, Tuza and Rožaj coming to Podgorica to protest .

We expect Vučić's help

Despite the DF's call to end political relations with Đukanović, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić did not do so. How do you comment on that?

Our last meetings with Vučić seem encouraging and I believe that in the coming period we will have concrete results regarding the preservation of the state-forming identity of the Serbian people in Montenegro. I am aware of the fact that I cannot, nor do I have the right to influence the policy of an independent state, but I still maintain the position that this kind of anti-Serb policy being conducted in Montenegro should be answered reciprocally and without reservation.