The Europe Now Movement (PES) and the Democrats achieved a bad election result on two occasions in Budva and in the last elections in Podgorica, because they failed to impose themselves on the local citizens who punish everything that does not work, but it will not cost them the government at the state level , the interlocutors of "Vijesti" assessed.
Civic activist Stefan Djukic he assessed for "Vijesti" that one of the reasons for the failure in the Budva and Podgorica elections was that neither the PES nor the Democrats were able to show what makes them stand out at the local level, to connect with citizens and local politicians, and to show themselves relevant in any way.
He pointed out that there is no doubt that the Democrats have been "in a program crisis" for some time:
"They seem to offer nothing, it is not clear what their essence is except that they are not with DPS".
He emphasized that PES, on the other hand, is trying to 'ride' on the program 'Europe Now', ie 'Europe Now 2', and "it is going very hard at the local level".
"It also raises a very good question from the citizens - 'OK, you did it, let's move on, these laws have been passed. Should we now vote you out of gratitude or is there something new?'”. The results are not surprising, given that it is not clear which policy is being offered by both," Đukić pointed out.
He said that the result of the local elections will be a little more difficult to reflect at the state level, because the dynamics are different.
In the elections the day before yesterday in Budva, the alliance of Democrats and PES fared the worst, as their support in the Budva assembly was cut in half: until yesterday they had six councilors in it, and as of Sunday - three. That coalition won 862 votes less than those two parties earned in total in the May elections, when they ran separately - then they had a total of 1.979 votes.
However, it should be borne in mind that he ran with the Democrats in the previous elections Đorđe Zenović, who went out on his own on Sunday and achieved an excellent result, together with PES "Nova Budva", which this time was with the "For the future of Budva" list, which he led Mladen Mikijelj.
When the support received by Zenović is added to the Democrats and PES (the effect of the support of "Nova Budva" cannot be calculated), it turns out that the alliance is the prime minister's party Milojko Spajić and the Deputy Prime Minister Alekse Bečić lost the mandate and 126 votes.
Metodolog Milos Besic he said that national elections can be held on a national, political platform, while good local organization is very important for local ones.
"The local organization and the organization of PES in general is very bad at the local level everywhere. You don't have an organization, you don't have personal contacts of people from your organization with voters, and in that constellation you won't make a good result", said Bešić to the MINA agency.
He cited the existence of the list as another reason why PES made a bad result back in May Nikola Jovanović.
"I will remind you, PES independently took 20-24 percent in the previous parliamentary elections in Budva. But there was no Jovanovic list in those elections. Therefore, there is no doubt that a large number of PES voters actually voted for Jovanović's list," said Bešić.
He believes that the third reason for the bad result of PES in Budva is the list of Đorđe Zenović.
"The real loss between those two election cycles is two percent, which is not so terrible. "Simply, Zenović, as the previous holder of the list of Democrats, withdrew six, seven percent," said Bešić.
Director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM), Nevenka Vuksanović, told "Vijesti" that she believes that the citizens are "punishing" with this worse election result everything that does not work at the local and state level, as well as the weakness of this coalition to operate autonomously and safely in Budva and that they are looking for an alternative that most likely translated into votes for Đorđe Zenović, who independently achieved an enviable result.
"Equally, pre-election campaigns and agreements after are not fundamentally cooperative, and the political crisis is continuously deepening. And this can be read from all local elections," Vuksanović pointed out.
She emphasized that this does not mean that it is an automatic collapse at the state level, but warns that political subjects are very fragmented and are slowly losing the options they can choose.
"It is necessary for them to show responsibility towards the citizens and agree on the government. Repeating the election does not bring change, it is already clear to everyone that it is only stopping or slowing down the projects whose implementation is necessary", assessed Vuksanović.
In the elections the day before yesterday in Budva, which are being held for the second time this year, when you look at the mandates won, the outcome is quite similar to May. According to data from the coalition of Democrats and the Europe Now Movement (PES) from all polling stations, the "For the Future of Budva" list led by Mladen Mikijelja won 2.979 votes (25,93 percent, nine mandates).
In the previous elections in Budva, which were held on May 26, Aleksa Bečić's Democrats and Milojko Spajić's Europe Now Movement ran independently.
The Democrats then won 1.194 votes (10,7 percent, four mandates), and the Europe Movement now won 780 votes (6,9 percent, two mandates). The Democrats were then led by Đorđe Zenović, who then left the Democrats, and led the citizens' group "Movement for the City" in the elections the day before yesterday.
The elections were repeated because the ruling parties, led by the parties around the former Democratic Front (DF), could not agree on the formation of the government due to mutual disagreements.
In the last elections in Podgorica on September 29, the coalition of the Europe Now Movement (PES) and Democratic Montenegro won 14 mandates.
In the local elections in Podgorica in October 2022, the then newly founded Movement "Europe Now" won 21,7 percent of the vote, that is, 13 mandates.
Then the coalition consisting of Democrats, Demos and United Montenegro (UCG) won - 10,8 percent or six mandates.
In the local elections in Kotor, the coalition with PES brought the Democrats two percent more support and one mandate, compared to the previous local elections, when Bečić's party ran independently.
Bešić: The government can do it for a few more years
Vuksanović stressed that the bad result of the two ruling parties in Budva does not mean that it is an automatic collapse at the state level.
Yesterday, the opposition assessed that after the elections in Budva, Kotor and Podgorica, the state government no longer has legitimacy, with which Bešić partially agreed.
"Not in Budva, but the elections in Podgorica partially delegitimized the government, i.e. called into question the legitimacy of the Government from the point of view of the rating of the parties that make it up, but they also largely delegitimized the President of Montenegro, who won 8,6 thousand votes with the URA GP , and 70 thousand in the second round of the presidential elections", said Bešić.
He said that the parliamentary majority is stable for now, and will probably be for a few more years.
"We will see what the effects of the Europe now 2 program will be, but also some steps towards the European Union and economic reforms that are being announced, which can hypothetically help in that rating. But they have a stable majority, probably for a few more years, until 2027," said Bešić.
The president of the SDP and one of the leaders of the European Union, Ivan Vujović, "warned" the PES that the coalition with Andrija Mandić was harming them.
"Whoever gets involved with Mandić is in for a political downfall. PES is currently on Mandić's political menu. From the elections in Podgorica, Kotor, Budva, followed by Berane, Nikšić", Vujović wrote on the X social network.
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