Democratic Montenegro rejected the invitation of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for a joint appearance in the elections in Cetinje, while the Citizens' Movement URA conditioned their support.
The SDP's invitation to opposition parties, associations and individuals for talks on a joint performance was sent on Monday to the presidents of the URA committees in Cetinje, Filip Adžić and Danilo Mrvaljević, the Democrats.
"At the beginning of June, the URA of Cetinje, preparing for an independent performance, started an intensive pre-election campaign and found great support from the citizens of the capital. However, if the rest of the opposition agrees on a single list, we will certainly not be the ones to disrupt the unity of the opposition," Adžić told "Vijesti" yesterday, insisting that general interests are far more important than personal and party interests.
However, there won't be a single list because the Democrats have announced that their decision to run independently in Cetinje is final.
"The main board of Democratic Montenegro at its previous session, in accordance with its statutory powers, unanimously decided to run independently in the next local elections for the election of councilors in the Assembly of the capital Cetinje. The decision of the Democratic authorities at the local and state level is final and cannot be influenced," said Mrvaljević for "Vijesti".
Democrats, however, say they remain open to an agreement on all pre-election and post-election activities aimed at ensuring conditions for fair elections.
"Also, the Democrats insist on deepening cooperation among the constituents of the opposition, especially with those opposition political subjects with whom we had and have extremely fair cooperation at all levels of organization," said Mrvaljević.
In the letter signed by the head of the SDP committee club in Cetinje, Nikola Đurašković, and which "Vijesti" had access to, talks are proposed about a possible pre-election unification of opposition political entities, citizens' associations and independent individuals.
"The goal of the planned activities would also be the fight for an electoral process with as few abuses as possible, as well as identifying the principles on which the future political cooperation of the opposition parties in Cetinje will be based. We consider this process necessary in the context of presenting a healthy political alternative to the citizens of the capital in the form of progressive forces that will be key factors in the future local government," the letter states, and points out that the first meeting should be organized in an appropriate period at the level of the board president.
The call for the unification of the Cetinje opposition is the first step in the implementation of the Manifesto on the gathering of progressive forces, which SDP president Ranko Krivokapić presented at the beginning of June precisely in Cetinje, and which defines the key political elements on which the policy of the new government would be based, after the change of government.
Pointing out that the SDP achieved a good result in the parliamentary and previous local elections in Cetinje, the interlocutor of "Vijesti" from the SDP said that the party assessed that an initiative for association should first be launched in that city. He said that the civic concept has strong support among voters in the capital, which is why we need to work on unification.
In the 2013 elections in Cetinje, the SDP secured five council seats.
The elections in Cetinje should be held at the end of November.
Absolute power of the DPS in the 2013 elections.
The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) secured absolute power in Cetinje in the elections held on November 16, 2013.
DPS has 19 out of 33 councilor seats in the Municipal Assembly.
The SDP and Positive Montenegro then won five mandates each, the Civic Front three and the Socialist People's Party one mandate.
The Liberal Party was among those who were below the census.
LP received 135 votes in those elections, and the census was 330.
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