The positions of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Information Society, and the Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs are currently occupied by former SDP members, Vujica Lazovic and Ivan Brajovic, who left the SDP after the Party Congress. Now they are working on establishing a new party. Mr Brajovic and Mr Lazovic left the SDP dissatisfied with the way in which the party was lead by its president Ranko Krivokapic.
After the session of the Main Board, Mr Krivokapic announced that the party would require a cabinet reshuffle on the basis of the coalition agreement with the DPS.
“The Main Board of the SDP concluded that the consistent application of the coalition agreement between the SDP and the DPS was the basis of legitimacy and confirmation of commitment as the basis for the Euro-Atlantic integration,” Mr Krivokapic said after the session of the Main Board, announcing that he will send an official letter to the PM today.
He called on all former members of the SDP to return their mandates to the party that had appointed them to the positions they were occupying.
Asked what he would do if Mr Djukanovic rejected the request SDP Krivokapic said that there was not much uncertainty about that.
“The DPS will hopefully adhere to coalition provisions and obligations. To respect these obligations is to preserve the Government and everything is in this interest. Otherwise, it would not be a European Montenegro,” Mr Krivokapic said.
The major argument for the Cabinet reshuffle would be the fact that the DPS and the SDP made the coalition agreement in 2012, according to which representatives of the SDP should be appointed to positions of the Speaker of the Parliament, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Ministers of Transport, Interior Affairs and Information Society.
As for the department of Interior, the current Minister Rasko Konjevic remained loyal to the SDP, therefore the disputed positions are those covered by Lazovic and Brajovic.
According to the provisions of the coalition agreement between the DPS and the SDP based on which Mr Djukanovic became prime minister in 2012, the parties have indisputable right to define its own policies in terms of human resources and to propose ministers.
Commenting on establishing of the Social Democrats of Montenegro, formed by former members of the SDP, Mr Krivokapic said that those who had no identity, had to take someone else’s.
“If you have your own name, you should not take the name of the SDP – and they do not. Many parties have been established with the programmes similar to ours, but they did not need to take our name” Mr Krivokapic added.
The Speaker of the Parliament and the President of the SDP also commented on the results of the survey conducted by the CEDEM according to which the SDP was supported by 5.2% of the population.
“Polls are still a relative thing. But if you compare and make an analysis of all the surveys before and after the SDP, there has always been twice as much,” Mr Krivokapic said.
He claimed that the outflow of members from the SDP was minimal.
Asked how many members left the SDP and joined the Social Democrats, according to his estimates, Mr Krivokapic said that 478 members left the SDP but that the brain drain was minimal.
“The main indicator of this is the Municipal Board in Bar. Out of 47 councillors, 37 stayed loyal to the SDP and this is the best and the most radical example of the way the party is functioning. The rest represents power of the media and it is not true,” Mr Krivokapic concluded.
At today’s session of the Main Board, Ramo Bralic was elected the new Secretary General of the SDP.
The Main Board thanked the former Secretary General, Borisalv Banovic, for all he had done to strengthen the organisational structure and functioning of the party.
