About 20 members of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) will decide on the new leadership in immediate elections, "Vijesti" has learned unofficially.
A source from the DPS says that the membership re-registration procedure is nearing the end, and that elections for the president and vice-presidents of the party should be announced soon. He does not exclude the possibility that the elections will be held by the end of the year, but he points out that it is most likely that they will be held by the end of January 2024.
It should be the first time in Montenegro that the leader of a party is elected directly, by the votes of the membership, and not by party delegates.
This is the practice of the Croatian HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) and the SDP (Social Democratic Party), as well as the Serbian DS (Democratic Party).
A source from the DPS said that once the elections are announced, the applications of candidates for positions in the leadership will begin. He states that there will be no limit on the number of candidates, and that the rules on candidacy and the conduct of elections are being defined.
The interlocutor claims that the DPS internal party elections will be similar to any other elections in Montenegro.
"After the announcement of the elections, the candidates will conduct a campaign in which they will present their vision of the development of DPS. We are still specifying the conditions regarding the organization of the campaign and its financial aspects. It should last up to a month. After its completion, election day will follow, during which members will be able to vote on candidates in the municipal committees. The election commission will then announce the election results, and the new leadership will address the public," he explains.
The candidacy for the president of the strongest opposition party has so far been announced only by the acting (acting) head of the DPS Danijel Zivkovic, who recently announced that he will submit it because he believes "that any deviation from the position would mean complete irresponsibility and avoidance of challenges". He said that he has no information about possible other candidates for the DPS leader, adding that it would be good if there were more of them.
So far, there are no announcements about candidacies for vice presidents. DPS currently has four vice-presidents - Ivan Vuković, Jevta Erakovic, Sanju Damjanović i Abaz Dizdarević.
Direct elections were entered into the DPS Statute in January 2021, at the party's extraordinary congress. According to that document, they were supposed to be held no later than January 24 of this year, and the former president of that party Milo Djukanovic he also announced them for 2022. The DPS explained that the internal party process was not carried out within the stipulated period due to preparations for the presidential and parliamentary elections held in the spring.
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Đukanović, after his defeat in the presidential elections and his resignation as head of the DPS, announced immediate elections within three months of the parliamentary elections, held on June 11. However, even after that deadline, there were none.
After that, Živković claimed that the deadline was actually three months from the announcement of the final results of the state elections (announced on July 14), but the intra-party elections were not held even then.
A source from the DPS says that this procedure could not be carried out at that time due to the issue of the population census.
Đukanović headed the DPS from 1998 until April of this year. After his resignation, the Main Board (GB) of the party appointed Živković as the temporary head. Đukanović then said that DPS gave birth to a completely new generation of people who are at the top of the party, and that Živković is "one of the most prominent people of that middle, young generation."
A few days ago, Živković said that the reforms in the DPS were started in 2016, when, as he stated, they enabled younger people to be members of parliament, and that now, as he emphasized, "it is the turn of the new generation of politicians to respond to challenges facing our society".
Direct elections should motivate both the membership and the party leaders
The source of "Vijesti" from DPS says that in that party they are thinking of choosing party leaders in the municipalities in the same way after directly electing the leadership.
He says that the goal of this is to enable DPS members to participate as much as possible in making important decisions, and to oblige party leaders to "competitivity and greater work".
In the Statute of the DPS it is written that the president of the municipal board is elected directly by members of the party residing in the municipality, the municipality within the capital, the capital and the capital, in accordance with the Statute and special rules adopted by the General Assembly.
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