One of the candidates for president of the DPS in Budva, Ivan Ivanović, froze all activities in that party and fenced off from all the party's moves, dissatisfied with the way in which, as he claims, coordinators Andrija Nikolić and Boris Muratović eliminated him from the race for the new leader.
Ivanović states that this was done through the Working Group chaired by the then leader of Budva DPS Predrag Jelušić, whose members were the current MP Suzana Pribilović and Katarina Kažanegra. There were three candidates, and the consent of the top of the party was allegedly sought for only one - Milan Tičić, who was elected by the municipal board on October 28. Since then, the turbulence in the party has not stopped, and ten days ago, at a session of the Municipal Committee, Ivanović announced the details of how the Statute and Rules of Procedure were allegedly violated, but also how the coordinators for Budva, through the Working Group, deliberately misled the Party Presidency in order to elect Tičić. .
"I haven't officially resigned from membership yet, but I said at the meeting of the municipal board that I was raising my hand and stopping. I said that I wish them the best of luck, but that I no longer want to participate in any further activities of DPS Budva. I asked them not to talk in the backroom about whether I will transfer to URU, Democrats, Front or wait for better times for some honest people to come from Podgorica as coordinators to lead the Budva DPS, so that I can return... That is my private matter. My opinion is that Tarzan Milošević dug up cancer for DPS in Budva, and Andrija Nikolić is burying it with a coffin and doing everything to completely extinguish it. I don't want to take part in that," Ivanović told "Vijesti".
He emphasized that privately he has nothing against Tičić, but that the manner in which he was elected is disputed, because the Statute of the DPS and the Rulebook on the election of municipal board presidents were "grossly violated".
"On October 28, the municipal board elected Tičić as president. At the session itself, I drew the attention of the Working Group and coordinators for Budva to the fact that the Statute and Rulebook are being violated. They ignored it and put only the name of Milan Tičić to the vote, while the other two candidates, me and Žarko Peković, were not even mentioned. Jelušić then said literally that they as a Working Group decided that Tičić was the best candidate and that they sent his name to the Presidency in Podgorica for approval. Immediately after that sentence, which is in the minutes, I spoke and made it clear that neither the Statute nor the Rules of Procedure gave the Working Group the right to decide, if there are more candidates, who to choose. They can give their assessment or opinion, but they cannot single out someone, they were obliged to send all three names to the Party Presidency...", Ivanović said, pointing out that the Presidency was misled in this way.
He states that already on October 31, he sent an official request to the DPS office in Budva to provide him with complete documentation.
"I asked to receive the decision of the Municipal Board or the Main Board on the criteria and deadlines for the election of the president, the decision on the election of the Working Group and the Rules of Procedure, the decision and minutes from the session of the Municipal Board where the work of the Working Group is determined, as well as the minutes of the implemented activities for the selection of candidates for the presidency. I asked for the minutes of the interview held with the vice-president of the DPS and the general secretary and the evaluation of the candidate, as well as the proposal of the decision on giving consent for the appointment of the president of the DPS Budva sent to the Presidency, as well as the decision of the Presidency for the appointment of Tičić. Since no one answered me, I sent an emergency call on November 1, and then two days later. As no one answered, Ivo Gvozdenović, the secretary of DPS Budva, called me on the phone and told me that the coordinator for Budva in front of the Executive Board of DPS Boris Muratović forbade him to provide me with that documentation, but that he told me that if I wanted, he could give it to me for inspection. to come to the office. I asked him to send what he said to me officially by email, as I addressed them. He didn't do that. After two days, Tičić called me and I repeated to him that he would give me an official answer. I said that when Andrija Nikolić and Boris Muratović give him their consent, he should call me, and until then we have nothing to talk about...".
Ivanović says that he still went to the DPS office in Budva, where he was given the consent of the Presidency for the election of Tičić.
He says that then they tried to twist his words and show that he doubts the work of the Presidency.
"I repeated to them that the coordinators did a bad job, and that the Working Group succumbed, on its own initiative or under pressure from them, and deliberately misled the Party Presidency, which did not know that there were two more candidates. After that, on November 5, I addressed the DPS Statutory Commission, filed a complaint that I forwarded to several addresses, the president of the Statutory Commission, the party secretary, the four vice-presidents, the Executive Committee and the party president, Milo Đukanović, with a short cover letter. In the appeal, I stated all the details and asked for the annulment of the decision on the election of the president of DPS Budva, as well as for the procedure to be returned to a new decision with the formation of a new Working Group".
After a month and a half, he added, he received a response from the Statutory Commission, which declared itself incompetent. The story also states that the complainant has the possibility, with the provision of a third of the members of the Municipal Board, to launch an initiative to review the decision on the election of Tičić.
"There are 71 members in the Municipal Board, a third is 24, I collected 31 signatures. People were ready with their first and last names to confirm that there had been a violation. Then the story of the coordinator in Budva started that Ivanovic was destroying the party. They started calling people and asking who signed. I personally told Tičić that there are people in the Executive Board of DPS Budva who signed my initiative. Then there was a commotion, because they were not allowed to schedule a session of the Municipal Board, they did not know what was going to happen. Eventually they had to. They agreed that if I come with those signatures, they will try to obstruct by putting the proposal to a public vote, and if it is voted on, then they will say that it will have to be verified by the Presidency, and that could take another year, as long as is Tičić's mandate".
He says that he came to the meeting, asked to speak and that there was a fuss that he was not allowed to speak...
"I went out and I told them everything that I told you, and that I don't need any answer because I got it on my appeal, which clearly states that it was not rejected. If the Statutory Commission had any argument, it would have rejected me. I also received another answer - that the members of the Municipal Board, by name and surname, agreed that I was right. However, I told them that since they started talking about demolishing the DPS in Budva and that they will try in every way to prevent the initiative, that I will not compromise the 31 people who signed."
Ivanovic claims that he has said that he is ready to withdraw from the race for president, if there is a vote of no confidence in Tičić and a new working group is appointed for the election.
At the end of October, Žarko Peković, the second candidate for president, also left the DPS municipal board because he was dissatisfied with the way the election was conducted.
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