The largest growth in the number of councilors last year was in local lists, whose number of representatives "jumped" by almost double - from 28 to 52, while in 2024 the ruling New Serbian Democracy and the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) lost the most representatives - eight , or seven.
Expressed in percentages, NSD, headed by the head of the Montenegrin parliament Andrija Mandic, the bigger the “loser”. That party "fell" from 71 to 63 council seats, i.e. by 11,2 percent, while DPS, which leads Danijel Zivkovic dropped from 227 to 220 local representatives, i.e. by 3,08 percent.
DPS has more local parliamentarians in power because, during 2024, it became part of the ruling majority in Ulcinj.
There are a total of 844 councilor seats in local assemblies.
The previous year, regular local elections were held in Kotor and Gusinje, and extraordinary ones in Podgorica, Berane, Andrijevica and Budva.
Bearing in mind that in Kotor, Berane and Budva the government has not yet been formed, it is not possible for the councilors in those municipalities to determine whether they are the government or the opposition. DPS has 22 representatives in those three municipalities. The strongest opposition party lost some councilors because they left it - he did it in Pljevlja Saša Ječmenica, who moved to the newly founded Party of European Progress (SEP) Duško Marović, in Cetinje Sonja Radojicic, Alexa Bastac, Miloš Raznatović i Stefan Vuletic, who created a special committee club.
PES "saved" debut performances
When it comes to NSD, the drop in the number of its councilors was attributed to the breakaway of the list "Budva naš grad" Nikola Jovanović, but also a worse result in the elections in Andrijevica compared to 2020, when they appeared in that municipality in a coalition with the Socialist People's Party (SNP).
However, growth was achieved by NSD's coalition partner - the Democratic People's Party (DNP). The party he leads Milan Knezevic had 2024 councilors at the beginning of 32, but shortly afterwards the only representative in the parliament of Podgorica left, Nemanja Baošić. Nevertheless, the DNP entered 2025 with 37 local mandates, and unlike the beginning of the previous year - it will have representatives in Kotor and Andrijevica. In the capital, after the September elections, there are three.
The strongest ruling party, the Europe Now Movement (PES) is the prime minister Milojko Spajić, started the year with the loss of several councilors. After the head of state and one of the founders left them Jakov Milatovic, followed by five councilors in Podgorica who formed the Movement for Podgorica (PzPG), and one in Daniovgrad. However, this loss was "evened out" by the debut performances at the polling stations in Andrijevica, Kotor, Berane and Budva, so Spajić's party started the year, and 32 mandates end with - 44.
The Social Democrats (SD) started 2024 with 45 representatives and ended with 41.
The Democrats and the SNP were "stable" in terms of the number of councilors last year. Democrats Alekse Bečić remained with 94 local representatives, while the SNP Vladimir Joković with 55 "fell" by one.
For the first time, the Democrats achieved parliamentary status in Gusinje, so now the only local communities where they do not have representatives are Plav and Rožaje. Only DPS still has representatives in all local assemblies.
The Civil Movement (GP) URA "fell" from 32 to 29 councilors. Party Dritan Abazović had four representatives in the Assembly of the Capital City, and after the election has two. It had one councilor in Kotor, but now it has no parliamentary status. In Budva, they remained "on the same" - with one councilor, while in other areas where citizens went to the polls during the previous year, GP URA did not participate in the election race, and the previous one did not even have councilors.
The growth of the number of representatives at the local level was also achieved by the parties of minority nations. The Bosniak Party (BS) increased the number of councilors by eight percent - the strongest minority party has 54 local parliamentarians, while it started the previous year with 50. Despite the loss of representatives in Podgorica, in Berane, after the first independent appearance, it will have two representatives (previously had one), while in Gusinje they grew by four (from three to seven) and became the strongest political entity.
Albanian Alternative (AA) 2024 began with 13 and ended with 14 councilors, while the Croatian Civic Initiative regained parliamentary status in Kotor by winning one mandate.
SDP and PZP live not locally
Of the parties that do not have parliamentary status at the state level, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Movement for Change (PzP) are still the strongest at the local level.
SDP "dropped" from 27 to 25 councilors, and PzP from 17 to 10. PzP Nebojše Medojevića it no longer has representatives in Berane, Podgorica and Kotor, while in Budva it had three and now one parliamentarian. They have councilors in Bar, Bijelo Polje, Danilovgrad...
In 2024, the newly founded SEP appeared in the elections for the first time. The party led by former Prime Minister Marković won two mandates in Podgorica.
The turnaround started the year with one councilor in Danilovgrad, and in 2024 achieved parliamentary status in the capital as well, ending the year with three representatives per locality.
United Montenegro Goran Danilović entered last year with seven councilors, and that is how it ends, because in the elections in Podgorica and Berane, it remained with one parliamentarian each.
Novska lista, which is part of the PES parliamentary group at the state level, also has seven mandates.
In the previous year, Free Montenegro "grew" from one to two councilors. Except in Podgorica, where it has existed since the formation of the previous government in 2023, the party headed by it Vladislav Dajkovic she won one mandate in Berane. It is the first time for this party to independently win a seat in a local parliament, because until now it has acted in a coalition with the constituents of the former Democratic Front.
Prava Montenegro lost two councilor seats in Berane, even though it was on the list "For the future of Berane" with NSD, DNP and Ujjenadija. The party he leads Marko Milačič she saved a council seat in Podgorica, Herceg Novi, Danilovgrad, Zeta and Žabljak.
The Liberal Party lost representatives in the capital and Kotor, so in 2024 it ended up with six councilors in four municipalities.
Apart from them, Demos and the Workers' Party, which have representatives only in Nikšić, will no longer have local parliamentarians in Podgorica, and that - one each. In the previous convocation, Demos also had one councilor in Andrijevica.
Neither the Socialists of Montenegro nor the Democratic Serbian Party, which ended in 2024 with only two representatives in the Tivat parliament, no longer have parliamentary status in Kotor.
A new party appeared in that coastal municipality - the Democratic Alternative, which was founded by former DPS councilors. The newly founded party won two mandates. The reason why it was not included in the local lists is that in the press release they issued after the founding congress, they announced action at the state level.
Civic initiative "21. maj" last year had councilors in Budva and Podgorica, but they did not participate in the extraordinary elections that took place last year, which means that they lost their parliamentary status.
In the previous convocation of the Podgorica parliament, the Democratic Roma Party had one councilor because it appeared as part of a broad coalition gathered around the DPS. However, although they did not participate in the extraordinary elections held in September, their leader Mensur Send entered the Podgorica parliament from the list of the strongest opposition party.
Dissatisfaction of citizens or lucrative business
The most responsible for the growth of local papers is certainly "Budva naš grad", but also the appearance of PzPG, the Movement for Gusinje (PzG), as well as the paper "For the future of our children" and the Vasojević movement of unification" in Andrijevica, and the paper "Because I love Berane", "Kotorski pokret", "Grbaljska lista" and "Nova Budva".
"Budva our city" won nine mandates in the local parliament, PzPG in Podgorica four, and PzG in Gusinje two.
In Andrijevica, local lists won a total of four mandates and the support of at least one of them was necessary for the formation of the government.
In the past, the Durmitor initiative, "Biram Bar", "Novi damo Mojkovac", "Za život Nikšić", Civic Movement (GP) "Ludi i doka", "Novi bejejejuje" have a presence in the municipal assemblies. In Tivat, four such lists have parliamentary status - "The People Wins", Tivat Action, Krtol List and Boke Forum.
PzPG is close to the head of state Milatović, and the Durmitor initiative is close to PES. "Nova Budva" and "Za život Nikšića" entered the parliaments from the list of the former Democratic Front, while GP "Ljudi i tačka" and "Narod pobejeđaje" were in the pre-election coalition with the Democrats and United, that is, Bečić's party and PES.
The lists "Ne damo Mojkovac" and "Novi pojeđeje" were valid for those close to the then prime minister at the time of the election. Zdravko Krivokapić.
Docent at the University "Donja Gorica" Nikoleta Djukanovic, she told "Vijesti" that the formation of local lists is mainly due to dissatisfaction with the functioning of parties at the national level.
"But the complication of the political scene leads to even greater dysfunction of the system, so we have almost paralyzed municipalities," she said.
According to Đukanović, the current party system in Montenegro complicates the democratization process.
"We have witnessed in recent years that we are getting more and more parties - I think that there are currently over 50 of them in Montenegro, which makes it difficult to consolidate the party system, which unconsolidated complicates and complicates the process of democratization of Montenegro to a large extent. Such a large number of parties, in relation to the number of inhabitants, can be interpreted in two ways - either the citizens are very dissatisfied with the situation and are trying to come up with healthy alternatives, or politics is a lucrative business from which individuals who reach positions profit, she states.
Đukanović said that in Montenegro, with the exception of a few examples of civil associations, which, apart from Preokret, failed to pass the census, we witness predominantly examples of seeing politics as a lucrative business.
"Thus in Montenegro pre-election coalitions mean almost nothing, they last very short, and only to achieve a better result, without the intention of merging parties with similar values, ideology, or political profile. This is evidenced by the fact that in a large number of cases, coalitions collapse after the elections", states the interviewee.
Đeljošaj is the leader in Tuzi, Camaj in Gusinj, Đeka and Nimanbeg in Ulcinj
When it comes to Albanian parties, AA is by far the most numerous in Tuzi. The party headed by Nik Đeljošaj has 10 representatives in the local parliament, while the Democratic Alliance of Albanians is the next Nikola Camaja, there are five. Three council seats each went to the National Union of Albanians Ferhata Dinoše i Democratic Union of Albanians (DUA) Mehmed Zenka.
On the other hand, Camaj's party leads in Gusinje, where it has four of the seven councilors in the Albanian Forum coalition. The other three were shared by AA (two) and DUA (one).
In Ulcinj, Fatmir Đeka's Democratic Party and Genci Nimanbegu's Force have five councilors each, DUA two, Democratic Alliance two, and AA one.
AA has one parliamentary representative each in Plav and Bar.
The Capital Assembly has the most independent councilors, which was left by two representatives of the ruling SDP in 2023, and four of the opposition DPS last year.
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