The leaders of the "For the future of Nikšić" and "Peace is our nation" coalitions declared last night an election victory in Nikšić, announcing the end of the two-decade rule of the Democratic Party of Socialist Milo Đukanović in his hometown.
Supporters of the coalitions gathered around the Democratic Front and the Democrats celebrated the victory in the streets, with a massive violation of epidemiological measures.
Comparing the absolute numbers, it can be seen that the "European Team for Nikšić" coalition, which consisted of the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Social Democrats, the Liberal Party and the Patriotic-Comit Alliance, won almost 300 votes less than in the parliamentary elections in August 2020.
DPS and SD had a total of 19.590 votes in August, and 19.294 voters voted yesterday. That is even four thousand votes less than those two parties collectively won in the previous local elections, which the then opposition boycotted.
The coalition "For the future of Nikšić" also had fewer votes, which fell from 18.048 votes to 12.392 - 5.656 votes less than in August, as did the SDP, which fell from 1424 to 1269 votes.
The "Black on White" coalition increased slightly - from 1.992 votes to 2.138, while the "Peace is our nation" coalition has the most reason to be satisfied with almost 4.200 votes more than six and a half months ago.
CEMI data show that there were about 500 fewer valid votes compared to the August elections.
The coalition "For the future of Nikšić", led by Marko Kovačević (DF), declared victory after 21:XNUMX and announced the possibility of a post-election coalition with the list "Peace is our nation" led by Momo Koprivica (Democrats). A wider coalition is not ruled out either.
According to CEMI data, the coalition led by the DPS "European Team for Nikšić" won 100 mandates based on 18 percent of processed votes, the coalition "For the Future of Nikšić" 11, "Peace is our Nation" 10, "Black on White" and " People's movement" one at a time.
The SDP remained below the threshold with 2,7 percent of the vote.
The head of the Electoral Staff of the coalition "For the Future of Nikšić", Andrija Mandić, said that this was their great victory and that Đukanović was defeated after twenty years in power.
"It is a great victory that exceeds all expectations that the DPS and people from organized crime had, because they believed that they would win. We can form a local government with the list of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić and President of the Assembly Aleksa Bečić," said Mandić at the coalition's headquarters.
He pointed out that they are not running away from the wider coalition and that "I guess the conditions have been met" for Marko Kovačević, the holder of the "For the Future of Nikšić" list, to be the mayor.
Kovačević said that this victory is only a small part of the fight against DPS for 30 years.
"I am honored to have been at the head of this coalition and I will never give up on these people. They are the core of the opposition's struggle," Kovačević said.
Koprivica congratulated the victory and liberation of Nikšić and the confirmation of the results of the parliamentary elections held on August 30 last year, when DPS lost power...
He said that this is a square victory, a victory for all the citizens of Nikšić, civil, progressive forces and that they experienced the largest possible increase in votes compared to the parliamentary elections - by about 4,5 thousand.
Koprivica pointed out that he is proud of the results and of all the constituents and promised that Nikšić will be a free city.
"And as of tonight, he is free, freed from the criminal gangs of Bran Mićunović and Zoran Lazović. We won with a smile, a pen, wisdom and courage... DPS will be in the opposition for a long time, and I am honored to have led the list that dealt a blow to DPS", said Koprivica at the coalition's headquarters.
Sanja Damjanović, the holder of the list of the "European Team" coalition for Nikšić, said that she hopes to "realize the coalition".
"We achieved a convincing victory, we won over 40 percent, we showed dominance because the European path is the only path to development and prosperity. This is not enough to form a government by ourselves. In any normal society, we would find a partner and manage to implement our superior program, I hope we will realize the coalition", said Damjanović.
DPS MP Miloš Nikolić said that "all those who hoped for the shipwreck of the DPS after the parliamentary elections were convinced that there was nothing to come of it".
"With our coalition partners, we won 1.000 more votes. All the accusations we have heard from our political competitors for decades have fallen flat. We are by far the strongest political party in Montenegro," said Nikolić.
DPS and SD, however, won almost 300 more votes in the August 30 parliamentary elections.
The leader of the People's Movement, Miodrag Daka Davidović, said that they were satisfied with the result considering "what the circumstances were in the local elections".
Nevertheless, he congratulated the winners and wished them luck in their work.
"Fighting with a maniac who, in the time since we created the movement, has created 953 of the blackest fascist texts. And it's a real miracle that anyone alive could vote for us. This is not a state, this is a monster that didn't want to, and perhaps shouldn't, protect the Movement so that elections can be held normally," Davidović said, adding that the elections were "irregular."
Tatjana Đurišić Bečanović, who was at the head of the "Crno na bijelo - Može Nikšić" list, said that the result they achieved was quite solid, because "they were dealing with two large nationalist blocs".
"People here still think first about the nation, and then about what they will eat tomorrow," she said at the press conference.
She congratulated the citizens on the new government, and said that she hoped that this government would be better than the previous one.
"It is a great success to dispossess the DPS in Nikšić, you know that this was their last fortress... This is literally their end," she said.
URA GP leader Dritan Abazović pointed out that he was satisfied with how the elections for their platform went.
"In all attacks, we managed to save voters and slightly improve the result. We have shown that we are a party made of steel and that our electorate is solidified," he said and congratulated the winners.
He assessed that the citizens deserved to be represented by a different government.
"It is important that voters turn to progressive forces and experience Montenegro in a different way," said Abazović.
When asked if he expected an invitation to form the government, Abazović said that he "doesn't see a reason to impose himself".
"We inherit some different values. As far as we are concerned, we are willing to help, but we are also more than interested in preserving the principles we are fighting for," said Abazović at the election headquarters. He said that DPS has fallen and SDP has disappeared from the political scene.
The President of the Assembly, Aleksa Bečić, invited the citizens of Nikšić to celebrate at home.
The leader of the Movement for Change, Nebojša Medojević, said that the local elections in Nikšić showed that the demands of the Democratic Front for the Government to be reconstructed are justified and legitimate.
He said that the DF, just six months after the parliamentary elections and three months after the "big fraud during the formation of the Government", showed that it has its own political space, which it has been successfully defending since 2012.
Medojević congratulated the "new mayor of Nikšić" Marko Kovačević and the head of the election staff Andrija Mandić on their exceptional success.
The polling stations in Nikšić were closed at 20 pm in accordance with the law, and the turnout was at the level of the parliamentary elections from August last year, just over 80 percent.
After four years, councilors from different political parties will meet again in the council benches in Nikšić, because until now the government was held by members of the coalition of DPS and SD, since the opposition boycotted the elections. In the local elections held in 2017, out of 58.486 registered voters, 26.322 (45%) turned out. 21.104 voted for DPS and 2.324 for SD, while there were 2.894 invalid ballots, so DPS won 37 mandates and SD 4.
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