Good morning! The president of the local parliament was elected in Budva. This does not mean that the government has changed. For the government to change, negotiations will follow regarding the election of the city’s first man, and they can be significantly more complicated than what has already happened. Here’s why.
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What will happen to Budva now?
Nothing is over yet. However, the government decided to withdraw and allow the local parliament to be fully constituted in Budva. The people of Budva have therefore won the right to local self-government and now it is time to elect a local administration. The difference between self-government and administration will be best explained by those who complain every time that the presidents of municipalities are not called mayors because there are only two mayors in Montenegro. Legal and linguistic purists, who are also popularly called grammar nazis, are scientifically proven ass*oles if studies are to be believed. These are the ones who constantly correct everyone on social networks.
But let’s go back to Budva. So, with the votes of Nikola Jovanovic’s, i.e. Milo Bozovic’s ticket, DPS, URA and the European Alliance, gathered around the SDP in Budva, SDP official Petar Odzic was elected as the president of the local parliament. Petar is a long-time municipal official, briefly delegated to the Ministry of Finance during the minority government.
This is a great success for the aforementioned coalition, which managed to achieve a good result in Budva and win three councillors.
This composition was not without fuss, but far less than was the case with the tents and riots of five years ago. Although the DF wanted to challenge them, it is obvious that neither they nor the Democrats have nearly as much support as they once did.
In the parliamentary opposition, the DF with its satellites, the Democrats and the PES, which experienced a debacle, as well as the local list of the former Democrat official, Djordje Zenovic, found themselves in the parliamentary opposition. Zenovic did not want to take sides and behaved similarly to Turnaround in Podgorica. Although in this way he is protected from possible controversies, this kind of political action is fruitless in the long run. Politics is not a place for moralizing. Especially not in Montenegro.
The election of Jovanovic as mayor will be more difficult. He continues to justify himself and distance himself from DPS by saying that the previous government also cooperated with DPS on some decisions, which does not mean automatic cooperation and coalition. Although Jovanovic may be hoping for minority support, the DPS is explicit that this is out of the question.
So, the saga is not over yet and it is evident that there will be more opportunities for my Budva residents to entertain us all together.
The potential formation of the government would unblock the provision of public services and would serve as an example of breaking artificial and harmful obstacles so that in Montenegro today everyone cooperates with everyone. In this way, the democratic game and competition would open up and lead to more frequent government changes. If the DPS came to power here, the door would be opened to new coalitions in other cities, because there is not a single logical and realistic reason for this not to happen. If we don’t count the gruesome story about the betrayal of Serbia and Orthodoxy that DF is promoting in Budva.
If it comes to corruption and organized crime, with which the DPS is associated, this is also an overcome criterion, because according to it, every party in Montenegro would be discriminated against.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of CdM)
