The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) held a forum in Ulcinj, after which they announced that the party is "the strongest in the country", thanks to the support of "the people who are there when it's most difficult".
"It's nice to see the energy radiated by our municipal committees. This shows the vitality of our membership and their faith in the ideals that the Democratic Party of Socialists stands for - a civil, multicultural and multi-confessional Montenegro, which is Ulcinj in miniature," said Abaz Dizdarević, candidate for vice president of DPS.
He addressed the gathered members of the DPS in Ulcinj, who attended the event as part of the campaign for the party elections scheduled for January 28.
"In 2006, the less numerous nations gave their wholehearted support to the restoration of Montenegrin independence, because they had a vision of the civil organization of the state. What I can conclude from the visits to municipalities so far during this campaign for intra-party elections, is an increased pressure of nationalism, and to such an extent that we can see the radiance of nationalism at every step - from the squares, various gatherings, to what we could see in the parliament yesterday. We heard the most heinous chauvinist insults against our MP, the likes of which we have never had the opportunity to hear before," Dizdarević said. , as announced by DPS.
He said that the task of the DPS is to put an end to such a situation in society.
"We must call on those who are civic-minded to stand up for every person who feels that this country is their own. We know that it is not easy to get out of this mud of chauvinism, but there is determination in our party and in these people who are presenting themselves as candidates for leadership tonight place in it. We want and want to resolutely fight against such phenomena. We defended ourselves in the nineties, we will defend ourselves today," Dizdarević said.
The candidate for the vice-president of DPS, Elvir Zvrko, said that the women and men of Ulcinj are characterized by "innate wisdom, but also recognizable multi-religious and multicultural harmony".
"The people of Ulcinj, even ninety percent of you, supported the independence of Montenegro, and you showed your generosity best in 1999, when you received tens of thousands of refugees and made it possible for all of them to feel welcome here. What was your attitude towards them is best described by the statement of one of them who said: "I am giving you anger, we would not have passed anywhere like in Montenegro". That is why we are especially grateful to you, because in this way you saved the image of Montenegro", said Zvrko.
He also spoke about the current situation in the country.
"It turned out very quickly that the DPS was leading the right policy, but that what was our bad luck and because of which we have different consequences of the collapse of Montenegro is what is happening to us from 2020 until today," said Zvrko, and then and stated, as the DPS announced, "just some of the examples".
"In the health sector, which is the closest to me, today you cannot perform a kidney transplant. We were at the top of the list of deaths from the coronavirus. We have never worse results on the PISA test, but that should not surprise us when we have teachers and professors who they say that the referendum was stolen. We were declared by the EU to be a country with a cancer wound in Europe. All this only points to one thing - that we are living in a period of a kind of deterioration of Montenegro."
Ivan Vuković, also a candidate for the vice-president of DPS, thanked those present for "the past three and a half years, despite the fact that it was difficult, they stayed with DPS".
"The last three and a half years have brought a special kind of challenge, in terms of the test of those people who traditionally belonged to our politics. And the largest number of them who belonged to DPS before that, stayed with our party. You are among them, and I feel the need to thank you, because I know how difficult it was," Vuković said.
He referred to the public opinion survey published today, according to which the DPS enjoys almost the same support as the leading party of the parliamentary majority.
"We should all be proud of that if we consider the environment in which we operate and if ninety percent of the media work every day to, literally, delegitimize each of us. That campaign of criminalizing the DPS does not stop to this day and anyone who has anything to do with our party is the target of those people," Vuković said.
He said that the DPS "know what the campaign against Montenegro looks like", and especially that "they know very well what the campaign against the DPS looks like".
"We know who finances those campaigns and what the goal of those campaigns against Montenegro is. In such an environment, we are practically equal in support to those who, as they brag, populistically raised salaries and pensions. And that means only one thing - that DPS has membership which no other party in Montenegro has," Vuković said.
He said that, in these days of the campaign so far, visiting the members of the DPS, the candidates for the highest positions had the opportunity to "see the strength of that potential".
"We met people from Petnjica to Ulcinj tonight, who, due to a sense of belonging but also because of spite, firmly remained with the DPS. It is thanks to that support of the people who are there even when it is the most difficult - the DPS is the strongest party in Montenegro. feet, but we stand proudly, firmly and seriously threaten our political competition, and we have no doubt that we will be the strongest party in Montenegro in the next elections," said Vuković.
He said that the DPS "with its victories in the previous period" has traced "the path to a happier future for our country".
"The Montenegro that we believe in and that we have built means a civil society of equal opportunities, in which someone from Ulcinj, Petnjica and Herceg Novi will feel like a first-rate citizen. That is the only Montenegro that can exist, that is the vision that connects us and that's what we're fighting for," Vuković concluded.
DPS vice-president candidate Jevto Eraković said that it was an "extreme honor and pleasure to be among the members of the party in Ulcinj", with whom, as he pointed out, he had "talked to both formally and informally during numerous election processes in the previous period". .
"While other developed European countries are thinking about how to increase salaries, how young people can live better, how to have a better health system, how to improve the development of tourism or build additional airports, we have the opportunity to talk about how to protect the country in order to we could have all that," said Eraković, concluding that "we are in a disguised game in which some have reconciled on the political stage, but actually inherit the same nationalist ideas of obliterating our country and destroying everything we want to fight for ".
And Eraković briefly commented on the research published today.
"Research tells us that the situation is slowly changing, and I hope that with the end of this intra-party election process, we will be able to assume the responsibility that belongs to us, because there are professionals and people who love Montenegro. If you want progress for your country you have to appoint people in the most responsible positions who are moral, ethical and who love Montenegro, and precisely such people are in the DPS", he stated.
He said that in that party they particularly insist on knowledge, quality, professionalism and "the right attitude towards our country".
"We have to talk to all our acquaintances and friends, and explain to them what kind of jaws Montenegro is in. To point out to them the attempts to bring back bloody nationalism," said Eraković.
He also spoke about, as he claims, attempts to deny the right to vote to citizens who are outside of Montenegro, while allowing it to those who were not born in our country.
"With such engineering, they are trying to flatten our country and thereby destroy Montenegro, and make us a national minority. Therefore, we have a lot of work ahead of us both at the state level and here in Ulcinj. I know it is not easy to be a supporter of DPS in Ulcinj. There was a lot of revenge and many accusations against honorable and honest people. Nevertheless, you remained firmly with us, you resisted the pressure and continued to support the civic idea of the Democratic Party of Socialists," Eraković concluded.
Candidate for DPS vice president Dušan Raičević also said that he is "extremely happy and satisfied" to be among DPS members with whom, as he said, "he cooperated both directly and indirectly in the previous period and intensively tried to contribute to the election with victories in Ulcinj and Bar".
"All this improved our common friendship, which should be the common point of reorganization of our party. I believe that the greatest strength of our party lies in you, because you were the ones who made an immeasurable contribution to all our victories, and quite often we did not know that you we adequately thank you for your effort and commitment. At one point, due to the overwhelming election victories, we forgot that we did not see clearly enough who our political enemies were, that we transferred the competitive spirit to our ranks and began to compete with each other, and that human vanities began to dominate. That led us to electoral defeats," said Raičević.
He said that the DPS is "aware of the mistakes" he mentioned himself, and that there is a readiness for that party to "return to its fundamental values" through reorganization.
"Our greatest value was fulfilling the results. When we started not doing that, there was dissatisfaction that led to defeat. That's why we have to talk honestly and openly," Raičević said.
He also said what the further goals of DPS are.
"Our primary goal is to free Montenegro from the shackles of nationalism and the shackles of populism that has gripped every pore of our society. We are the ones who represent the vanguard and we are the ones who have blazed the trail for the development of modern Montenegro. And that is exactly what Montenegro The most necessary thing is burning at this moment," Raičević concluded.
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