Ideally, in the November elections in Budva, the fourth in the last four years, there would be some form of active boycott of voting because of the way the politicians are treating the citizens there, but this is unlikely to happen to the extent necessary to send a clear message to political actors about this. which prevent the functioning of that municipality.
So a civic activist Stefan Djukic answers the question of "Vijesti", what kind of turnout he expects in the elections scheduled for November 17, considering the painful political conditions that have lasted for years in the metropolis of tourism.
That's how it was from the previous election, on May 26, until the night before yesterday, when the possibility for someone to form the government definitely failed. Then he emphasized the deadline of 60 days to constitute the local parliament, that is, to elect its head, so he is the president of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic announced new elections yesterday.
Đukić mentions the idea of boycott in the context of the fact that the mandate of the previous Budva government was not completed either, but that it was spent in mutual friction and fights for seats, and that the new one could not start its own for the same reason.
"The maximalist demands of political actors block the functioning of all institutions in the country, and their behavior shows that they, in all parties, are the only problem for everything that happens to us. Unfortunately, I think that we will only have some minor abstention, which will not be a clear message to political subjects", he assesses.
Two camps never further apart
Two political camps in Budva, created by the split of the former single coalition Democratic Front (DF), which was led by the now detained President of the Municipality of Budva Milo Bozovic - the list "For the future of Budva" led by Mladen Mikielje and "Budva our city" headed by him Nikola Jovanovic, have not been able to secure the majority of 17 councilors required for the constitution of the government since the May elections.
That is why the Democrats submitted an initiative that the holder of their list Đorđe Zenović will be the head of the Municipal Assembly (SO) of Budva, with the expectation that he will receive the support of 26 councilors, i.e. all parties that "adopted" the Democrats as a safe coalition partner in the future government. However, although it was expected that his election would lead to a compromise and the formation of a government - because experts in the political situation claim that even new elections will not bring many changes to the balance of power - it did not happen because the Democrats withdrew the initiative, disappointed with "everything that could be done to hear in the assembly hall". Thus, it became even clearer to the Budva public and citizens that the intolerance between the two warring political blocs is even greater.
In the May elections, Mikijel's and Jovanović's lists won nine seats each in the local parliament, the Europe Now Movement (PES) two, the Democrats four, the Civic Movement (GP) URA and the list gathered around the Social Democratic Party (SDP) one each, and the Democratic Party of Socialists ( DPS) seven.
Connections between Budva and Podgorica
Stefan Đukić says that it is not easy to predict what will happen in the elections in November. According to the logic of things, which, according to him, says that the circumstances will not change - we should expect smaller movements, in a few percent. However, he adds that it is not impossible for the results to be different.
"First of all, I am referring to the local list ('Budva naš grad') which does not have central support and which will have a harder time mobilizing its forces again", he assesses.
When asked how the new vote in Budva will be affected by the epilogue of the elections in Podgorica, scheduled for September 29, the interlocutor answers that, if the results in the capital are surprising, i.e. "if some other force wins or if some political subject achieves a significantly better result than was the case in 2022", it is not impossible for some actors to create a certain momentum and improve their own in the coastal municipality on the wings of that result.
"But it takes too many pieces to line up for us to be able to predict it now," notes Đukić.
He says that it is possible to make a "package arrangement" now, that is. that "Podgorica conditions Budva or vice versa", but states that it is still more likely that everyone in Budva will come out in the same columns as in May.
The key participants in those elections, which were not followed by a solution to the two-year political crisis in the metropolis of tourism, claim that they expect to achieve a better result at the polls in November.
The democrats the night before last, after the parliamentary discussion went so far and was at times mundane, withdrew the initiative for Zenović to be the head of the parliament. After the session, he said that this party planned to stabilize the political situation in the city with the initiative.
"We did everything we could. We were modest, very tolerant in the post-election period, very active in negotiations and tried in every way to reach a majority, finally stable, which would change the image of Budva, change the way Budva is governed and bring Budva something that this city definitely deserves," he said. is, adding that Budva does not deserve to be in an acting state.
Alas, hope and a chaotic situation
Leader of Budva DPS Milan Tičić, he assessed that the rating of that party is only growing, and that the government of the former DF and the Democrats - in the past eight years has proven to be incompetent and has destroyed the city.
"The whole discussion is being conducted on some anti-DPS campaign, which no longer drinks water. No one came and offered the citizens that our city should be cleaner, not that there should be garbage everywhere, that there should be more tourists, that our sea should be cleaner... but everyone is talking about the anti-DPS campaign. DPS has not been in power since 2016 in Budva. People talk about DPS out of fear, because they know that we were good in the May elections, and that we will be even better in the November elections," said Tičić after the session the night before last.
Mikijelj, the leader of the "For the Future of Budva" coalition, said that he was sorry for the failure to form a "stable government in Budva", and that the coalition had from the beginning tried to bring the political actors back "on the right path" in order to create a stable government. .
"Today it is clear that the partners from the state level are also potential partners in Budva - PES and the Democrats. That way, through two coalitions, we will go to the next elections - one, made up of 'For the future of Budva', PES and the Democrats, and the other, made up of DPS and 'Budva our city'", he stated after the session.
The leader of the "Budva naš grad" list, Jovanović, said that the previous elections in that city were far from democratic, "with the presence of organized crime and criminal groups that had a significant influence on the electoral process".
"Their actions after the elections led to the fact that we do not have a constituted local parliament. The results of those elections clearly indicated that the Special State Prosecutor's Office formed many cases related to the influence of criminal groups on political processes in Budva, and it is really not surprising that we do not have a constituted parliament and that we will not have a constituted government," he said.
Jovanović called on the citizens of Budva to, no matter how tired they are of the election, "not to succumb to the probably bad atmosphere that will happen in the coming days and the election campaign, not to succumb to the pressures of employees, especially in state institutions, not to succumb to today's gifts and those the stories that were once told by the DPS, and today by the structures in the Government, that they do not give up and that they do not agree to blackmail...".
President of the GP URA Budva board Blazo Radjenovic, assessed that Budva is facing a new political bloc based "on the same ideologies and programs as the previous one". According to him, the current situation in Budva is chaotic, and the representatives of the Government in the SO Budva do not show enough interest in local problems.
"GP URA will in the coming period continue to fight for radical changes and the formation of a government that will be in the interest of all citizens of Budva... I call on citizens to go to the polls in as large a number as possible and punish this pernicious policy, which is called the policy of fraud and politics comes to mind", said Rađenović the night before yesterday.
Holder of the list gathered around SDP Petar Odžić, he stated then that that political bloc will not allow Budva to be governed by criminal structures.
"As difficult as it was to choose a side in 2016, when we broke and removed DPS from power, it is just as difficult now. But you should always be on the right side and you shouldn't be afraid of anything," he stated.
Čarapić: Elections in 90 days because Milatović's cousin did not form the government
MP of PES Vasilije Carapić wrote yesterday on the X network that Milatović's decision to call elections for November 17 is an evident turn in relation to the earlier practice of the head of state to schedule elections in the shortest legal period - of 60 days.
"Then the shortest deadline is justified by the arguments that citizens should get legitimate government as soon as possible, that democracy cannot wait, that the government crisis should be resolved as soon as possible, etc. And now, when the president's favorite (i.e. his relative) failed to form the government, use the trust gained and gain coalition capacity, the deadline of 90 days seems opportune," said Čarapić, without specifying who Milatović's relative is.
The PES MP also assessed that it is opportune to postpone the formation of the new government in Budva until the end of the year "without the president's favorite", so that, according to him, the new government would have only a few days to adopt the budget.
"... And it is very likely to enter into temporary financing, which is never in the interest of the citizens", he said.
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