Candidates of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which has been in power for 30 years, have won all presidential elections since the restoration of Montenegro's independence in 2006.
Although the elections were followed by opposition accusations of irregularities and vote buying, in the presidential elections the DPS candidates Filip Vujanovic i Milo Djukanovic won in the first round, i.e. they had the support of more than 50 percent of valid votes.
Given that DPS has been losing support since the parliamentary elections in 2020, it is unlikely that their candidate in the presidential elections on March 19 would win in the first round.
According to the Law on the Election of the President, if no candidate receives more than half of the valid votes of the voters, a second election round is held in 14 days. The two candidates who received the largest number of votes participate in the second election round.
According to the latest results of the public opinion survey, published by CEDEM last month, if Đukanović were to run again for that position, 24,4 percent of citizens would certainly vote for him in the elections, while 39 percent would support one of the opposing candidates.
President of the Assembly Danijela Đurović on Monday, she announced presidential elections, reminding that Đukanović's mandate expires on May 20, because he was sworn in on that date in 2018, and then took office.
The public is already mentioning the names of several possible participants in the election race. Besides Đukanović, they are female professors Milica Pejanović Đurišić (DPS), the leader of Demos and until recently the mandate for the composition of the government Miodrag Lekić, the leader of the Democrats Aleksa Becic, Ph.D Jelena Borovinić Bojović, current rector of the University of Montenegro Vladimir Bozovic...
These are the fourth presidential elections in Montenegro, since the restoration of independence in 2006. They were previously held in 2008, 2013 and 2018.
Four candidates took part in the vote on April 6, 2008 - Nebojsa Medojevic (Movement for Change), Andrija Mandic (Serbian List), Srdjan Milic (Socialist People's Party) i Filip Vujanovic (DPS).
It was the first election race for the presidency after the referendum on independence and since the promulgation of the new Constitution, adopted in October 2007. According to data from the website of the State Election Commission (SEC), 334.455 voters voted, and 329.781 ballots were valid.
Vujanović received the most votes, 171.118 votes, which is more than half of the valid votes, or 51,89 percent.
Mandic was in second place with 64.473 votes or 19,55 percent, Medojević third with 54.874 votes or 16,64 percent and Milić fourth with 39.316 votes or 11,92 percent.
The OSCE observation mission stated in the report, published after the elections, that the problem in these elections was the continuous blurring of the difference between the Montenegrin state and the then ruling party, the DPS.
"The official role of Mr. Vujanović as the current president, sometimes overlapped with the activities he led as part of his presidential candidacy. During his tour around the country, the opening of state projects was used. Mr. Vujanović's final promotional rally took place in the building that houses the main government offices, as well as the DPS party headquarters," the report states.
Vujanović was first elected president of Montenegro in 2003, when the state union of Serbia and Montenegro was formed.
As a DPS candidate, he participated and won the presidential elections in 2013, although part of the public contested his candidacy for a third term, which is unconstitutional.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP), a coalition partner of DPS, filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, but it was rejected with the explanation that he had the right to another presidential mandate in independent Montenegro, since he was first elected to office in a joint state with Serbia.
Vujanović's opponent in the elections on April 7, 2013 was Miodrag Lekić, as an independent candidate. A third potential - Rade Bojović failed to collect the required number of signatures of support.
The DPS candidate then won 161.940 votes, or 51,2 percent, while Lekić received 154.289 votes, or 48,79 percent.
Lekić contested the election results, claiming that it was electoral theft.
The pre-election campaign was conducted in the shadow of the "Snimak" affair, when recordings from internal DPS meetings where party officials talk about hiring party supporters, as well as documents about alleged abuses during hiring, appeared in the public domain.
The current president of the country, Milo Đukanović, won the presidential elections on April 15, 2018.
Seven candidates participated in the elections. Apart from him, they were also Marko Milacic (Real Montenegro), Mladen Bojanic (DF, Democratic Montenegro, Socialist People's Party and Civic Movement URA), Hazbija Kalac (Party of Justice and Reconciliation), Vasilije Milicković (Civil Action and Party of Pensioners, Disabled and Restitution of Montenegro), Dobrilo Dedeic (Serbian coalition), Draginja Vuksanović (Social Democratic Party).
532.599 citizens had the right to vote. Milacic received 9.405 votes, or 2,81 percent, Bojanic 111.711 votes (33,4 percent), Kalac 2.677 votes (0,8 percent), Milickovic 1.593 votes (0,48 percent), Dedeic 1.363 votes (0,41 percent ), Vuksanović 27.441 votes (8,2 percent), and Đukanović 180.272 votes (53,9 percent).
That is almost 40 more votes than Đukanović's party won in the 2020 parliamentary elections. According to SEC data, the DPS electoral list received the support of 143.515 votes, or 35,06 percent of voters.
Đukanović was the president of the country from 1998 to 2002. He took office on January 15, 1998, after winning on October 19, 1997 Momir Bulatović. The first election round was held on October 5, and the second on October 19.
"Elections called without consultation"
Yesterday, the opposition SD announced that the announcement of presidential elections without political consultation further deepened the crisis.
"The country is in the biggest political crisis since the introduction of multiparliamentarism, almost all parties are calling for an agreement on unified parliamentary and presidential elections, international partners support that position, and the 'European' SNP and URA are undermining the very attempt at an agreement by scheduling presidential elections without any consultation, in the term when they cannot be combined with the extraordinary parliamentary ones", the SD announced.
Candidates need the signatures of 1,5 percent of voters
According to the Law on the Election of the President, a candidate for the presidency can be nominated by a political party or a group of citizens, based on the signature of at least 1,5 percent of voters. An individual political party or group of citizens can propose only one candidate.
The proposal is submitted to the SEC no later than 20 days before election day, which means February 28. Then, the list of candidates is determined within 48 hours from the deadline for submission of proposals, and the order is determined by lot.
"A presidential candidate cannot use facilities, financial resources, vehicles, technical means and other state property for campaign purposes," the law states.
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