As local elections in Niksic are getting closer, statements among political parties are getting sharper. After the press release war between the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the opposition, but also between Democratic Front (DF) and the rest of the opposition, the leaders of the strongest parties exchanged harsh words and threats on Tuesday.
Thus, NOVA leader Andrija Mandic said after the arrest of his driver that Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic was trying to construct another false case against DF as local elections in Niksic were getting closer. Mandic also threatened that “for each head from DF that rolls someone else’s would roll as well”.
DPS’s response came immediately. At a convention in Niksic on Tuesday night, DPS president Milo Djukanovic said “that if it had been according to DF’s plans, heads would have been rolling across Montenegro long ago”, adding that “we would know how to respond”.
Analysts contacted by CdM say that something like this is expected and that given the importance of elections in Niksic, we should expect a sharpening of the rhetoric.
The battle for every vote
Sanja Rasovic from the Civic Alliance (GA) told CdM that the election campaign in Niksic showed so far that the strained and unsettled relations among the political parties are transferred from the national to the local level.
Speaking about the exchange of harsh words between Mandic and Djukanovic, she said it was very inappropriate for long-time players of the Montenegrin political scene to use the terms such as “rolling heads”.
“Given their decade long experience in politics, citizens expect them to show more democratic potential and that their messages do not contain threatening connotation or offenses. They should be role models how to conduct a dialogue on the political scene instead of doing the opposite,” said Rasovic.
She said that the party leaders’ interfering in the “battle” at the local level shows that “this time every single vote is important both to the opposition and the ruling party”.
“The harsh rhetoric is also a feature of all election campaigns and it is nothing unusual for Montenegro. It is expected that it will culminate in the coming period,” Rasovic said.
Coup – a trigger for hate speech
Analyst Srdjan Vukadinovic also believes that as the elections in Niksic are getting closer, there will be more and more hate speech.
“The election rhetoric will certainly be even more marked by hate speech, because there is no possibility that DPS will meet the main opposition’s demand and repeat elections because of the coup. There is no way to resolve this and make all the political entities satisfied by 12 March. It will trigger for hate speech in the campaign,” said Vukadinovic.
Importance of Niksic local elections can further contribute to the escalation of rhetoric.
“The opposition has won local elections in Budva and Kotor. Elections in Herceg Novi are to be held soon and they expect to take town after town from DPS. If they win in Niksic, the opposition will gain significant power and they are aware of it. Therefore, the campaign will be harsh,” said Vukadinovic.
Opposition – a step backwards
Vukadinovic said that conflicts within the opposition can also be expected. According to him, they have already begun.
“DF will also direct their activities towards the URA Civic Movement, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Democrats. It will target them more than DPS, because DF is trying to press the rest of the opposition to agree to run in the elections together. But that will be hard to achieve,” says Vukadinovic.
Rasovic says that it seems the upcoming elections in Niksic pushed opposition parties a step back.
“Instead of focusing its energy and time to the local level agenda, the opposition is wasting it on mutual bickering that produces no results,” she said.
