The formation of the government in Budva remains under question: The government is silent, Dukaj is preparing a new session date

The Ministry of Public Administration (MPA) will propose a new date for the session of the Budva parliament after the Government did not consider their proposal to hold the session today, "Vijesti" has learned unofficially.

The newspaper's source from that department said that the law is clear: that the MPA proposes the date of the session, and that the executive branch adopts it, stating that the Ministry will offer a new date today, given that the Government, according to regulations, is obliged to decide on convening the session by January 27th.

The government did not respond to "Vijesti" yesterday whether it would adopt the initial MPA proposal during the day (yesterday), and what its actions would be if it did not do so, given the deadlines. On the other hand, most of "Vijesti"'s interlocutors from Budva believe that the government will use the last deadline to schedule a session.

The Law on Local Self-Government (Article 39) stipulates that if the first session of the newly elected assembly is not scheduled no later than 15 days after the announcement of the final election results and is not held no later than 15 days after its convening, the session shall be convened by the executive branch no later than 15 days after the expiration of the prescribed deadline for convening, or holding, the session.

The final results of the Budva elections were announced on December 13 last year, and, according to the law, the deadline for holding the session expired at midnight on January 12. This means that the Government is obliged to convene a new session by January 27, and to hold it no later than 15 days from the date of its convocation. However, the Government must not wait too long in that case, given that the deadline for constituting the Budva Municipal Assembly (by electing its president) expires on February 12. If this work is not completed by then, the Head of State Jakov Milatovic will be forced to call elections in the tourism metropolis for the third time in the last year.

Constitutive session chaired by the oldest councilor Savo Medigović (Budva our city), whose agenda included the election of the speaker of the parliament, was interrupted on January 10. The session was interrupted by an invasion by supporters of the coalition "For the Future of Budva", led by Mladen Mikijelj in the Municipal Hall, but also sympathizers of the group "Budva our city" Nikola Jovanović on the first floor of that building, in the office of the detained president of the Municipality of Budva Milo Božović.

The Budva Municipal Assembly then asked the MPA for an explanation as to whether the interrupted constituent session had ended or could continue. The Ministry, headed by Marash Dukaj, immediately after completing the administrative supervision in the local parliament, sent the Government a proposal to convene the first session for January 23. The Ministry responded to "Vijesti" last week that they had supervised the implementation of the Law on Local Self-Government in Budva, noting that the session of the newly elected MA was not held in accordance with the provisions of that regulation.

The Alliance "For the Future of Budva" did not allow the local parliament session to continue, claiming that it should be led by their representative. Krsto Radjenovic and accusing former party comrade Jovanović of "betraying the electoral will" because he should form a government with the minority support of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).

Officials, sympathizers, and activists of two "warring" factions of the former Democratic Front (DF) occupied the parliament hall, claiming that there were persons of security interest in the opposing camp.

Eight councilors from the "Budva Our City" list, two from the European Union and one from the Civic Movement (GP) URA, proposed Petar Odžić from the European Union for the President of the Parliament.

Vice President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and representative of the European Union Bojan Zekovic, announced yesterday that the Government, "by refusing to fulfill its legal obligation and schedule (a session) of the Budva Municipal Assembly, is "continuing to destroy the country's legal order and thereby further deepening the political and constitutional crisis."

"As long as the government Milojko Spajić intends to destroy the legal order of the country, we will see in the next few days, when the deadline for scheduling the Budva Municipal Assembly session expires... Spajić's government, instead of acting responsibly and legally at least in this case and scheduling the Budva Municipal Assembly, is adding fuel to the fire and further exacerbating the crisis to the point of complete paralysis of political life," Zeković concluded.

Odžić is acceptable to DPS

The fact that informal negotiations between the lists "For the Future of Budve" and "Budva Our City" have failed, although both sides claim that they were not even held, is also evidenced by the rekindling of the verbal war between them. With his statement a few days ago, in which he called on the coalition led by Mikijelj to support his platform that he signed with the European Union and GP URA, Jovanović practically confirmed to the public that he is not giving up on the idea of ​​forming a government with minority support.

Jovanović called on Mikijel's coalition to support their proposal for Odžić to be the speaker of the parliament, but also to vote for the mayor of the municipality (Jovanović is the candidate in that case), and that if they refuse, they are directly to blame for the DPS returning to power in Budva after eight and a half years.

Although he claimed in the election campaign that he would not form a government with DPS, or with New Serbian Democracy, Jovanović now maintains that it does not matter to him which side the support comes from, which political list or party. The platform is supported by eight out of nine councilors of the "Budva our city" list, after councilor Medigović refused to sign Odžić's candidacy.

Jovanović's statement provoked a sharp reaction from the list "For the Future of Budva", which accused him of "wanting to be voted president by the defeated politicians (of the former DPS leader)". Milo Đukanović", and "the Kavač clan with the tacit support of the 'Spuška cell'".

They called Jovanović "a traitor to the Serbian idea and the canonical Orthodox Church", saying that "the greatest political betrayal that has occurred in the last ten years has become obvious to all citizens of Budva and Montenegro".

Jovanović did not respond to a question from "Vijesti" about whether he was giving up on the platform he concluded with the European Union and the GP URA, the details of which have not been presented to the public. When asked by "Vijesti" whether he would agree to be elected speaker of parliament with the votes of Mikijel's coalition, Odžić replied that he would not make any statements until the session of the Assembly is scheduled.

The DPS told the newspaper that Odžić is acceptable to the party for the position of parliament speaker, and that their seven councilors will vote for his election.

Jovanović called on the government to schedule the parliamentary session as soon as possible, which was interrupted on January 10 after a heated debate over the legality of who could chair it. While the “Budva Our City” group claimed that it was Medigović, their oldest councilor, the coalitions “For the Future of Budva” and the alliance of the Europe Now Movement (PES) and the Democrats claimed that Medigović had resigned and could no longer chair it, but that he should do so. Krsto Radjenovic from the Socialist People's Party (SNP), as the second oldest councillor.

Medigović said that he withdrew his resignation after 20 minutes, after a call from a friend from the "Budva Our City" list, and because the parliamentary service did not forward it to the Municipal Election Commission, and that it was practically invalid. This caused a stormy reaction, and the session was adjourned.

In the November elections, the lists "For the Future of Budva" and "Budva Our City" each won nine seats in the Municipal Assembly, DPS seven, the Democrats-PES coalition three, the European Union and "Movement for the City" two each, and GP URA one.

Considering that the Budva Municipal Assembly has 33 council seats, in order to form a government, it is necessary for one of the political actors to secure the support of at least 17 "armchairs".