The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) plans to introduce the possibility of recalling the party president through its new statute, which is still in draft form, thus limiting his current formal power.
On the other hand, DPS is introducing the position of honorary party president, which, as previously confirmed by the party, will go to a former head of state and multiple-term prime minister. Milo Đukanović, who led DPS for 25 years.
Current DPS President Danijel Zivkovic he said in early February that Đukanović would be nominated for honorary president of the party at the upcoming party congress.
"We preserved peace, prevented Montenegro from being bombed, introduced monetary stability and modernized the economy, restored independence, brought the country into NATO and opened all chapters in negotiations with the European Union. These are achievements worth a century of politics, let alone 20 or 25 years. The leader of all these successes and the forces that enabled all these results to be achieved was the long-time president of the DPS, Milo Đukanović, and therefore, as a reflection of the gratitude of the new leadership, he will be nominated for honorary president at the upcoming Congress," said Živković in Rožaje as part of the campaign for the tenth DPS Congress.
The DPS congress is scheduled for February 16th, when a new statute should be adopted.
In addition to the new composition of the Main Board, the Congress will, as previously announced by the DPS, adopt congress documents that will, along with an analysis of the party's work in the last four years, outline its policy and program in the coming period.
The draft statute, which "Vijesti" has access to, states that the honorary president is proclaimed by the party Congress and that he can be one of the party presidents whose mandate has expired, "who, through their efforts and results, have made an exceptional contribution to the affirmation of the party's policy and work."
This is a significant innovation compared to the existing Statute and can be interpreted as a way to preserve the political influence of previous leaders, but without direct responsibility for ongoing processes in the party.
The current DPS Statute did not clearly define how the party president could be recalled, while now that procedure has been formalized. This means that the DPS president can no longer rule the party indefinitely without the ability to control party bodies.
The draft statute stipulates that an initiative to recall the president can be submitted by a third of the members of the Main Board or a fifth of the party members.
"The decision to dismiss the party president is made by the Congress, at the proposal of the Main Board. In the event of the termination of the party president's mandate by resignation, the Main Board, and in the event of termination of the mandate by dismissal, the Congress - appoints an acting president until the election of a new party president," the draft states.
There is no provision for the recall of the president in the current 2021 Statute.
DPS did not respond to questions from "Vijesti" about why they decided to include a provision on an honorary president in the statute, whether the membership requested that this title be awarded to Milo Đukanović, how this will affect the party's coalition capacity, for what period this title is awarded and whether it can be revoked, and why a detailed procedure for the president's recall has only now been introduced into the statute.
Strengthening pro-European and pro-NATO orientation
The Draft includes "preservation and affirmation of NATO membership" as basic principles, and "regional cooperation" and "European integration" are now special principles, which were one principle in the existing Statute.
This could indicate a strengthening of the party's pro-European and pro-NATO orientation, as well as a greater commitment to regional cooperation.
The Congress remained the highest body of the party in both statutes, but the 2025 draft gives greater importance to the decision-making process and greater involvement of members.
The Congress, as stated in the Draft Statute, among other things, determines the party's policy, evaluates the work of the bodies it elects, adopts the program and statute, elects the Main Board, the Statutory Commission and the Supervisory Board, proclaims the honorary president of the party, and, at the proposal of the Main Board, makes a decision on the dismissal of the party's bodies.
According to the current Statute, the party's assets were managed by the Main Board, while the Draft stipulates that the presidency can dispose of assets up to 30% of the total value, while assets of greater value are disposed of by the Main Board, with the prior opinion of the Supervisory Board.
A novelty in the functioning of municipal committees is that they will now submit quarterly reports to the Presidency on changes in membership records, which increases accountability. The draft statute gives importance to local party committees, and a session of the municipal committee can now be convened by one third of the committee members if the president fails to do so within three days. It is also envisaged that a member of the municipal committee can be recalled if they do not attend sessions for more than 6 months without a justified reason.
Municipal committees also have greater independence in running election campaigns, but key decisions still require the consent of the party presidency.
An expelled member may return after three years.
According to the existing Statute, an expelled member could not rejoin the party, while the Draft introduced the possibility of rejoining after three years, with the consent of the Ethics Committee.
The criteria for expulsion from the party have been tightened, so in addition to violating the Statute, membership in another party or candidacy without the consent of the DPS, public support for political opponents, as well as inactivity and non-payment of membership fees have been added.
The last known case of expulsion from the DPS was in March 2022, when the Municipal Board of that party from Kotor expelled Dejan Ognjanović, Milica Ljutić, and Mladen Donković from membership.
The DPS then announced that Ljutić, Ognjanović and Donković decided, contrary to the position of all DPS bodies, to provide a quorum for the Kotor Municipal Assembly session and thus, before the imminent introduction of compulsory administration, "denied citizens the right to express their opinion about the current government in Kotor by going to the polls."
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