Presidential election in Montenegro 22nd December 2002 a round up just one week before the vote

News

Corinne Deloy,  

Fondation Robert Schuman,  

Helen Levy

-

22 December 2002
null

Available versions :

FR

EN

Deloy Corinne

Corinne Deloy

Author of the European Elections Monitor (EEM) for the Robert Schuman Foundation and project manager at the Institute for Political Studies (Sciences Po).

Robert Schuman Fondation

Fondation Robert Schuman

Levy Helen

Helen Levy

Eleven political personalities are officially candidates for the Montenegrin presidential election that is to take place on 22nd December. Filip Vujanovic, vice-president of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), out-going Prime Minister and new president of the Parliament since 5th November, is the great favourite especially since the main opposition movement, the Popular Socialist Party (SNP) decided to boycott the election on 30th November. Its leader Predrag Bulatovic, who was supposed to face the candidate appointed by the Social Democrat Party, has finally given up fighting for the supreme office.

The Popular Socialist Party, the Popular Party (NS) and the Serb Popular Party (SNS) are the three main opposition movements in Montenegro. United in a coalition called "Together for Change" during the early general elections on 20th October they won thirty seats in Parliament (against thirty-nine for the coalition "Democratic List for a European Montenegro" comprising the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Social Democrat Party (SDP), Popular Harmony and the Civic Party). The Montenegrin opposition is in favour of maintaining close links with Montenegro and Serbia.

In addition to this Miodrag Zivkovic leader of the Liberal Alliance (LSCG) announced just a few days ago that his movement would also abandon participation in the next presidential election. The liberal leader, whose party failed massively during the last general elections on 20th October when they only won four of the 73 seats in Parliament thereby losing its position as the lynchpin indispensable in the creation of the government, also declared that the MP's in the Liberal Alliance would no longer be taking part in the election.

Therefore on 22nd December Filip Vujanovic will be facing six unknown independent candidates and four politicians presented by small movements such as the Party of Yugoslav Communists, the Party of Natural Law and the ultra-nationalist Serb leader Vojislav Seselj's Radical Party (SRS), who was a candidate on 8th December in the presidential election of Serbia.

The Democratic Party of Socialists therefore preferred Filip Vujanovic to Svetozar Marovic, the other vice-president of the DPS to go out in conquest of the supreme office. Miodrag Lekic's candidature, with the support of the partners of the Democratic Party of Socialists was not retained just like the hypothesis forecast by some political analysts at one time, that the DPS would present a candidate from without the party.

The Popular Socialist Party obviously took a dangerous path by counting on the boycott. On the one hand the SNP endangered the coalition that it is part of in Parliament with its two political partners: Bozidar Bojovic (SNS) and Dragan Soc (NS) who admitted publicly that they did not understand Predrag Bulatovic's choice and called voters to go to vote in spite of this on 22nd December to choose their President. On the other hand the result that Filip Vujanovic succeeds in obtaining will influence the future of Montenegrin opposition. Since although two months after his party's landslide victory in the general elections the President of Parliament is still the easy victor of the presidential election, the future of the Montenegrin opposition will be comprised at least as it stands today.

To go further

Elections in Europe

 
2013-05-28-16-28-21.8807.jpg

Corinne Deloy

3 June 2025

Karol Nawrocki, director of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the body responsible for prosecuting Nazi and Soviet crimes against Poles, who was supported by the main opposition party, Law ...

Elections in Europe

 
2013-05-28-16-28-21.8807.jpg

Corinne Deloy

20 May 2025

Rafal Kazimierz Trzaskowski (Civic Platform, PO) came out ahead in the first round of the presidential election on 18 May. The mayor of Warsaw and former Minister of Civil Administration and Digital A...

Elections in Europe

 
2013-05-28-16-28-33.2244.jpg

Corinne Deloy

20 May 2025

The Democratic Alliance, a coalition comprising the Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Luis Montenegro, and the Democratic and Social Centre/People's Party (CDS/PP) led by Nuno Melo, came out ahead...

Elections in Europe

 
2013-05-28-16-30-07.6453.jpg

Corinne Deloy

20 May 2025

Nicusor Dan, who ran as an independent candidate but was supported by Justice and Respect for All in Europe (DREPT), the People's Movement Party (PMP), the Right Force (FD) and Renew the European Proj...

The Letter
Schuman

European news of the week

Unique in its genre, with its 200,000 subscribers and its editions in 6 languages ​​(French, English, German, Spanish, Polish and Ukrainian), it has brought to you, for 15 years, a summary of European news, more needed now than ever

Versions :