Part of the Bar SNP: Bulatović's statements are accurate, members who support Šćekić are eliminated

Some members of the Bar board of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) confirmed Branko Bulatović's allegations, claiming that it is true that the municipal board has not functioned for more than two years, and that the current board president, Rajko Ljubenko, has eliminated members from local boards who support Dragoslav Šćekić as the head of the party.

This is stated in the response submitted to "Vijesti" and signed by Neda Ojdanić, Marko Bulatović, Miodrag Drašković, Ivica Radović and Vojkan Krgović.

"We, the undersigned, long-standing and active members of the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro, wish to publicly confirm the truthfulness of the allegations made by Mr. Branko Bulatović regarding the events within the SNP Bar Municipal Committee," they said.

They stated that it is true that the Bar board has not functioned for more than two years, that during that period they have tried several times to start its work, because, as the statement says, only through continuous efforts and openness can they regain the shaken trust of their members and try to win back those who, precisely because of the behavior they witnessed the other night, left them.

The very statement that their prominent activist, and former long-time member of the main board, cannot comment on the chaos that has arisen in the OO, speaks volumes about the democracy of the non-statutory elected president of that board, they said.

"It is true that recent attempts to organize meetings of the alleged local committees were fake and carried out without any insight and invitation to old and active members. At the OM, there were proposals for both candidates - both Mr. Joković and Mr. Šćekić - which is in the spirit of the democratic process, and we condemn any attempt at manipulation and personal positioning to the detriment of the party. We would also like to emphasize that members who would nominate Mr. Šćekić were deliberately eliminated from the so-called local committees," they stated.

They expressed full support for Bulatović and called for a transparent and truly democratic election process in the party.

After the SNP Municipal Board in Bar announced yesterday that they had unanimously nominated Vladimir Joković for the party's president, who will be elected at the upcoming congress on August 30th, Branko Bulatović spoke out, introducing himself as a board member, claiming that they had also nominated Dragoslav Šćekić for the position.

Bulatović claimed that the statements from the press release from the SNP Bar executive committee session, that the Bar board unanimously proposed Vladimir Joković for president of the party, were false.

He claims that three present independent representatives from Sutomore and one from Bar proposed Šćekić as the new party leader. He blames Vasilije Lalošević from the SNP presidency for these, as he called them, "manipulations."

He told "Vijesti" that he was speaking on behalf of other board members who do not accept "accurate reporting by the second part of the SNP Bar OO" or "a fabricated situation", which, he said, is causing great damage to the name and reputation of their party.

"This is a kind of manipulation by Vasilije Lalošević, the old idea creator and current member of the party presidency, who is desperately trying to maintain himself at the top of the decision-making process for the sake of personal interests, hoping for Joković's survival, which would be the last nail in the coffin of our party," said Bulatović.

He added that the Bar committee had not functioned for over two years, and now "Vasko's group hastily staged local committee meetings without inviting activists and old members," which he believes is aimed at reducing the number of proposals for Šćekić by "nominating unknown delegates."

In the statement, Bulatović concludes that the SNP Bar Municipal Committee proposed two candidates, both Šćekić and Joković.

After that, the president of the SNP Bar committee, Rajko Ljubenko, spoke out, saying that Bulatović resigned from all positions in the SNP almost a year ago, for which he attached a screenshot of Bulatović's email.

"We would like to point out that someone who has resigned from all positions in the SNP Bar and who did not attend the Municipal Board session, and who is no longer part of our party organization, cannot evaluate and comment on the session and work of the Municipal Board of the SNP Bar. Instead of responding to him and others like him, we are sending you the text of the resignation of the gentleman in question. His writing would not be worth mentioning, but for the sake of our members and the seriousness of last night's session, we are making ourselves known and in this way ending our correspondence with him," concluded Ljubenko.

So far, Joković, along with Barani, has been nominated for the position of party leader by 14 municipal committees, while part of the Bar committee is among the eleven that have supported Šćekić.