Ten days after the local elections in Berane, the initial or informal talks about a possible new coalition government in this city, in which the Socialist People's Party would not participate, are just beginning.
According to the knowledge of Vijesta, yesterday some holders of lists that could form a majority without the participation of the SNP met yesterday, but everything took place only in preliminary and for now still non-binding talks.
Immediately before that meeting, from the "For the Future of Berana" coalition, whose backbone is the New Serbian Democracy, it was said that the holder of the list would attend what they said was the initial meeting. Vuko Todorovic.
"It is a meeting of this group that could form a majority in the local parliament without the Socialist People's Party. There won't be any definitive decisions, but what is absolutely certain is that we will insist on the post of mayor, since we won the most votes in that grouping," said the New Serbian Democracy.
They added that they expect instructions from Podgorica only after that.
"Sometime during this week, we expect to receive authorization from the Main Board so that we can definitely negotiate and make decisions," said a well-informed interlocutor to Vijesti from the NSD Municipal Board.
The Municipal Board of Democratic Montenegro said that it was an informal meeting, that is, that their list holder in the local elections Damjan Ćulafić "invited Vuk Todorović for coffee".
"We still do not have clear guidelines for negotiations, nor do we know who will be in the negotiating team. Whether it will be only us from the local board, or whether there will be someone else from the headquarters, that has yet to be defined and seen", they told Vijesta from OO Democratic Montenegro.
The Socialist People's Party says that they are ready to suffer a blow if the government in Berane is formed without them, but that "it is not good to exclude from power the party that won the most mandates and which tomorrow would be the key and link to the new government".
"We will see what they informally agree on. What I can say is that, as the holder of the list that won the most votes, I have already spoken with the Democratic Front. We await their presidency and their response. After that, I would also invite the Democrats to talk, and it would not be informal, and all with the aim of continuing to exercise power as in the previous convocation. What we will do also depends on how they will be appointed", said the president of OO SNP and the holder of this party's list. Tihomir Bogavac.
More than a month ago, in anticipation of the local elections in Berane, Vijesti announced that they are on the stage of rematch and realignment, and that everything is possible except for the Democratic Party of Socialists to return to power in this city. Even then it was clear that DPS would fall, but it could not be predicted that it would sink. And this time they really sank. While in 2014, as well as in 2018, they lost the local elections very narrowly, by several hundred voters, which in the end came down to a difference in the parliament of only one councilor less than the ruling parties, first of all the coalition "Zdravo Berane" (SNP, DF ), and then the same coalition, reinforced by Democratic Montenegro, has now dropped from seventeen councilors to only nine.
According to the official results of the Municipal Election Commission, the list "Yes for Berane and Montenegro" (held by the DPS) won nine mandates, the SNP seven, "For the Future of Berane" six, the Democrats six, the list "Berane Sad" four, Prava Montenegro two and United Montenegro one mandate.
Many things indicated that the elections in Berane were anything but local. First of all, the fact that they were not postponed and maintained together with 14 other municipalities, at the beginning of June. The majority of ruling parties, angry at the announcement of the formation of a minority government, decided to balance their forces and, above all, punish the Socialist People's Party for signing a memorandum with the URA and minority parties.
And except for the restrained Democratic Front, i.e. the parties gathered in the "For the Future of Berana" coalition, all others attacked the voters of this party in the campaign. That is why the campaign, instead of focusing on local issues, actually came down to the referendum question - for and against the minority government.
Despite the fact that the SNP achieved the best result after the DPS with coalition partners, the entry of some new and smaller parties into the local parliament opened up the possibility that the Democrats and the DF could achieve a majority of 19 councilors, without the SNP.
Will that happen and will DF get over everything that their prime minister is leaving Zdravko Krivokapic and his party in Berane said during the campaign, remains to be seen. And quickly, because deadlines are running out.
"From the date when the MEC announced the final results, which was March 30, the deadline is 15 days to schedule a session of the Municipal Assembly, and then another 15 days to hold the session, which would be sometime on April 29", it was clarified. News from the parliamentary service.
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