Montenegro’s presidential election is expected to be held in the spring of 2018. However, it has already become topical among the main political actors on the domestic scene, Radio Free Europe writes.
There are numerous speculations on possible candidates, ie who would be the best option.
While the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) believes that its leader and the former prime minister Milo Djukanovic would be the best option for the ruling party, the opposition still has no agreement on a possible common candidate.
DPS says that it is early to talk about presidential elections. According to the party representative Predrag Sekulic, the opposition is actually pointing to that story, because it wants to cover up all their failures – from the parliamentary elections in October last year to the failure of the parliament boycott itself.
“It seems to me that in this way they are also trying to mobilize their electorate, which, as it seems to me, is negatively responding to all the moves of our colleagues from the opposition. We should not forget that they are doing it and in order to get a good start position and send a message that their leader is perfect for that position,” Sekulic said.
On the other hand, almost all opposition parties announced that their representatives would run for the office, unless prior agreement on a common candidate was reached.
DF believes the common candidate should be a non-party person.
DF MP Milutin Djukanovic told RFE/RL hat the alliance does not find it too early to discuss the topic and reach an agreement among opposition entities.
When it comes to a common opposition candidate, it is difficult to expect reaching of such an agreement any time soon for ideological and political reasons. However, the option cannot be ruled out.
As a reminder, certain factors of Russian politics advocate the joint action of opposition parties in Montenegro.
Thus, in the last media appearance, the Deputy Secretary General of the Unified Russia Sergei Zeleznyak assessed that it is crucial for the opposition parties to have a common presidential candidate.
According to Boris Raonic from the Civic Alliance (GA), the debate on the presidential election will only strengthen in the next six months
