Late autumn of Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists

Author: Vladimir Pavi?evi?

Director of the Society for Research in Politics and Political Theory

29/05/2020

It seems those who claimed there was no disempowerment of DPS without the assistance of DPS itself were right. And where can you find greater assistance than when the President of the party himself is working on disempowerment.

Regular parliamentary elections in Montenegro should be organized this fall. In the current parliamentary assembly established by the 2016 elections, the ruling coalition is supported by 42 MPs, while the opposition group consists of 39 MPs. It is clear therefore that the ruling political parties in Montenegro have a weak majority and that the opposition in Montenegro has respectable power.

Only several months prior to the elections, the most common question in the Montenegrin public is whether the parliamentary elections of 2020 are the greatest chance of finally disempowering Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists in thirty years of renewed political pluralism and authorities that were never changed.

The “Envelope” affair

In early 2019, a well-know Montenegrin businessman Du?ko Kne?evi? posted a video showing him handing over an envelope with 97,500 euros to Slavoljub Mig Stijepovi?, mayor of Podgorica and one of the closest associates of the DPS President Milo Djukanovic. The money, which was not recorded anywhere and which does not officially exist in the cost estimate of DPS, was intended for the DPS election campaign in Podgorica. This video became evident proof that the Democratic Party of Socialists was buying votes and mandates at the elections using black funds. Mass civil protests ensued which among else resulted in the “Agreement for the Future”, a document signed by all opposition MPs before 30,000 citizens gathered at the Independence Square, which requested provision of conditions for the first fair, free and legitimate elections in Montenegro.

The “Envelope” affair weakened the ruling DPS primarily in terms of evident lack of legitimacy of its election wins. By buying votes and mandates, this party defined itself as corrupt and non-democratic, and its authority as illegitimate. This resulted in decrease in support to the voting body, and clear critique for DPS from Washington and Brussels.

West against Milo

In the 2019 report of Freedom House, Montenegro was not defined as a democratic party for the first time since 2003. This is a direct result of many years of corrupted and non-democratic rule by DPS. In the interview for the daily newspapers “Vijesti” in May of this year, the ambassador of USA in Montenegro, Judy Reinke, said: “I believe that the recent Freedom House report raises important questions at the right time regarding perception of the recent general democratic setbacks of Montenegro (…) Government officials must tirelessly work on the enhancement of living conditions of citizens, instead of using the position of power to satisfy their own interests”.

Coupled with the official reports of European institutions and reflections of European officials which continually state that Montenegro is a country of captured institutions and repeatedly criticize the lack of progress in the area of the rule of law, it is clear the DPS is no longer treated as a credible partner in Washington, New York and Brussels.

Escape from the election legislation reform

With the direct participation of the European Union, parliamentary committee for comprehensive reform of electoral and other legislation started working in mid-2019. The purpose of this committee was agreement of relevant actors pertaining to electoral conditions for the 2020 parliamentary elections, in order to organize the first free and fair elections in the history of Montenegro. In four and a half months of work in the Committee, representatives from the ranks of Democratic Montenegro prepared and submitted 16 legal projects and more than 200 specific solutions for improving the electoral environment. In early December 2019, the agreement on democratic elections seemed to be possible.

DPS organized the escape from electoral reforms by catapulting in the parliamentary procedure the non-constitutional Law on Freedom of Religion, which produced huge resistance of citizens. This legislative project was sent to the parliamentary procedure only several days prior to the deadline for the completion of the Committee for Electoral Reform, which prevented any dialogue on electoral reforms, and the central question in society and Montenegrin politics became the question of government’s relationship towards the church, and the matter of the government’s relationship towards the Constitution and rights of Montenegrin citizens.

Cleronationalism of DPS

On 27 December 2019, the Government of Montenegro adopted the Law on freedom of religion or belief and legal status of religious communities. This law is controversial for many reasons, the main one being is unconstitutionality. The law is unconstitutional as it violates the constitutional principle of separation of religious communities from the state and violates the constitutional principle of the inviolability of property. Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral was under direct political attack of DPS through this law.

A special aspect of this determinant was the doctrinal establishment of DPS as a cleronationalist party. Namely, at its eighth congress, DPS adopted a political program which specifies the following inter alia: “We will work on the renewal of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, as an inseparable part of the Montenegrin, state and national identity”. With this message the Democratic Party of Socialists announced its plan of transforming itself into a cleronationalist political organization which also includes unilateral adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion in the Parliament of Montenegro.

Lity

The Church offered a strong response to the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion. Lity processions, a type of protest gatherings organized every Thursday and Sunday in various cities in Montenegro, gathered citizens of all religions and nations for the purpose of pressuring the authorities into amending the disputed articles of the Law. The processions were massive, non-violent protests gathering people of different beliefs, and at one moment a third of the country participated in them.

The processions severely harmed the ruling party. Spiritual, non-violent and dignified gatherings were a response to the attempt of DPS to additionally deepen the divisions in society with the aim of achieving political profit. At the same time, lity organization represented a defence of the Montenegrin Constitution and basic democratic principles and human rights accepted in the enlightened world.

Initial position of DPS before the announcement of the election

The DPS President Milo Djukanovic is often described in the region as a very strong political figure, whose political experience is a guarantee of infallibility in estimating future moves. However, the first two years of his presidency were fraught with mistakes which largely contributed to the weakening of his political authority and weakening of DPS support in the electorate. This was particularly visible in his public announcements.

For instance, while discussing the “Envelope” affair in which it is clear that the party he is presiding over was violating the law, Mr. Djukanovic said: “It was done by many businessmen, including Mr. Knezevic. It is not in dispute. Everything that was done would end up at a certain address in the Democratic Party of Socialists, therefore in the DPS accounting office, where it was carefully recorded. And the reports for the state authorities were drawn up for the state authorities as they requested.”

With these statements Mr. Djukanovic only solidified the public opinion of DPS as a criminal organization collecting money from all sides, with rigged reports sent to the state to satisfy the form. This is definitely one for the reasons for the intolerant attitude of western allies toward this behaviour of Mr. Djukanovic, and the party he is presiding over.

Another useful example is his comment on the lity processions organized due to the adoption of the controversial Law on Freedom of Religion. Immediately upon organization of the first prayer walks, speaking to his supporters in Tivat, Mr. Djukanovic said: “Do not allow your religious freedom to be abused in the manner it is abused these days across Montenegro, and it is abused with the aim of destroying Montenegro. Do not let yourself be a part of that insane movement”.

Labelling citizens of all religions and nations protesting in order to protect the Constitution of their country and religious rights of believers of one religious community - participants of an insane movement - lead to even more people in the streets the following days. A comment that Mr. Djukanovic and DPS have lately been working to their detriment spread very quickly across Montenegro, similarly or even worse than the Croatian presidential candidate Kolinda Grabar Kitarovi? during the presidential campaign in Croatia.

It seems those who claimed there was no disempowerment of DPS without the assistance of DPS itself were right. And where can you find greater assistance than when the President of the party himself is working on disempowerment.

Pozna jesen Demokratske partije socijalista Mila ?ukanovi?a

Deluje da su bili u pravu oni koji su tvrdili da nema razvla??ivanja DPS-a bez pomo?i samog DPS-a. A kud ?e ve?a pomo? nego kada na sopstvenom razvla??ivanju radi predsednik partije li?no.

Redovni parlamentarni izbori u Crnoj Gori trebalo bi da budu organizovani ove jeseni. U postoje?em skup?tinskom sazivu koji je odre?en izborima 2016. godine, koaliciju na vlasti podr?ava 42 poslanika, dok opozicionu grupaciju ?ini 39 poslanika. Jasno je, dakle, da vladaju?e politi?ke stranke u Crnoj Gori imaju tesnu ve?inu i da opozicija u Crnoj Gori ima respektabilnu snagu.

Na svega nekoliko meseci uo?i izbora, naj?e??e pitanje u crnogorskoj javnosti je da li su parlamentarni izbori 2020. godine najozbiljnija prilika da se u trideset godina obnovljenog politi?kog pluralizma i nikada smenjene vlasti kona?no razvlasti Demokratska partija socijalista Mila ?ukanovi?a.

Afera “Koverta”

Po?etkom 2019. godine, poznati crnogorski biznismen Du?ko Kne?evi? objavio je video snimak na kojem se vidi kako Slavoljubu Migu Stijepovi?u, gradona?elniku Podgorice i jednom od najbli?ih saradnika predsednika DPS-a Mila ?ukanovi?a, uru?uje kovertu u kojoj je bilo 97.500 evra. Novac, koji nigde nije evidentiran i koji zvani?no ne postoji u tro?kovniku DPS-a, bio je namenjen kampanji DPS-a za izbore u Podgorici. Ovaj snimak je postao o?igledni dokaz da, koriste?i crne fondove, Demokratska partija socijalista na izborima kupuje glasove i mandate. Usledili su masovni gra?anski protesti ?iji je jedan od rezultata bio i “Sporazum za budu?nost”, dokument koji su pred 30.000 okupljenih gra?ana na Trgu nezavisnosti potpisali svi opozicioni poslanici i kojim se zahtevalo obezbe?ivanje uslova za prve po?tene, slobodne i legitimne izbore u Crnoj Gori.

Afera “Koverta” oslabila je vladaju?u DPS pre svega u pogledu o?iglednog odsustva legitimiteta njenih izbornih pobeda. Kupovinom glasova i mandata, ova stranka je sebe definisala kao korumpiranu i nedemokratsku, a svoju vlast kao nelegitimnu. Posledica toga je smanjenje podr?ke u bira?kom telu, kao i jasna kritika koja na ra?un DPS-a sti?e iz Va?ingtona i Brisela.

Zapad protiv Mila

U izvje?taju Fridom Hausa za 2019. godinu, Crna Gora po prvi put od 2003. godine nije definisana kao demokratska dr?ava. To je direktna posledica vi?egodi?nje korumpirane i nedemokratske vladavine DPS-a. U intervju za dnevne novine “Vijesti” u maju ove godine, ambasadorka SAD u Crnoj Gori D?udi Rajnke je saop?tila: “Vjerujem da nedavni izvje?taj Fridom Hausa u pravom trenutku pokre?e va?na pitanja koja se ti?u percepcije op?teg demokratskog nazadovanja Crne Gore u poslednje vrijeme (…) Vladini zvani?nici moraju neumorno raditi na pobolj?anju uslova ?ivota gra?ana, a ne da koriste polo?aj mo?i u svrhu zadovoljenja vlastitih interesa”.

Kada se tome dodaju zvani?ni izve?taji evropskih institucija i refleksije evropskih zvani?nika u kojima se u kontinuitetu navodi da je Crna Gora dr?ava zarobljenih institucija i ponavljaju kritike oko izostanka napretka u polju vladavine prava, jasno je da se u Va?ingtonu, Njujorku i Briselu DPS vi?e ne tretira kao kredibilni partner.

Bekstvo od reforme izbornog zakonodavstva

Sredinom 2019. godine u Crnoj Gori je uz direktno u?e??e Evropske unije po?eo da radi skup?tinski Odbor za sveobuhvatnu reformu izbornog i drugog zakonodavstva. Cilj ovog odbora bio je dogovor relevantnih aktera oko izbornih uslova za parlamentarne izbore 2020. godine, kako bi po prvi put u crnogorskoj istoriji bili organizovani slobodni i po?teni izbori. U ?etiri i po meseca rada u Odboru, opozicioni predstavnici iz redova Demokratske Crne Gore pripremili su i podneli 16 zakonskih projekata i preko 200 konkretnih rje?enja za pobolj?anje izbornog ambijenta. Po?etkom decembra 2019. delovalo je da je dogovor oko demokratskih izbora mogu?.

Bekstvo od izbornih reformi DPS je organizovao katapultiranjem u skup?tinsku proceduru neustavnog Zakona o slobodi veroispovesti, ?to je proizvelo ogromni otpor gra?ana. Ovaj zakonodavni projekat upu?en je u skup?tinsku proceduru svega nekoliko dana pre roka za zavr?etak rada Odbora za izbornu reformu, ?ime je onemogu?en bilo kakav dijalog o izbornim reformama, a centralno pitanje u dru?tvu i u crnogorskoj politici postalo je pitanje odnosa vlasti prema crkvi, kao i pitanje odnosa vlasti prema ustavu i pravima gra?ana dr?ave Crne Gore.

Kleronacionalizam DPS-a

Skup?tina Crne Gore usvojila je 27. decembra 2019. godine Zakon o slobodi veroispovesti ili uverenja i pravnom polo?aju verskih zajednica. Ovaj zakon je sporan zbog mnogo razloga, a klju?ni je njegova neustavnost. Zakon je neustavan jer se njime kr?i ustavno na?elo odvojenosti verskih zajednica od dr?ave i zbog toga ?to se tim zakonom kr?i ustavno na?elo neprikosnovenosti svojine. Preko ovog zakona na direktnom politi?kom udaru DPS-a se na?la Mitropolija crnogorsko primorska.

Posebni aspekt ove determinante je doktrinarno odre?enje DPS-a kao kleronacionalisti?ke partije. Naime, na svom osmom kongresu, DPS je usvojio politi?ki program u kojem izme?u ostalog pi?e: “Radi?emo na obnovi Crnogorske pravoslavne crkve, kao neodvojivog dijela crnogorskog i dr?avnog i nacionalnog identiteta”. Ovom porukom Demokratska partija socijalista je najavila svoj plan da se transformi?e u kleronacionalisti?ku politi?ku organizaciju ?iji deo je i jednostrano usvajanje Zakona o slobodi veroispovesti u Skup?tini Crne Gore.

Litije

Sna?an odgovor na usvajanje Zakona o slobodi veroispovesti ponudila je Crkva. Na litijama, kao vrsti protestnih skupova koji su organizovani svakog ?etvrtka i nedelje u razli?itim gradovima Crne Gore, okupljali su se gra?ani svih vera i nacija u cilju sna?enja pritiska na vlast da se izmene sporni ?lanovi Zakona. Litije su bile masovni, nenasilni protesti na kojima su se okupljali ljudi razli?itih uverenja i na kojima je u jednom trenutku u?estvovala tre?ina stanovnika dr?ave.

Litije su veoma oslabile vladaju?u stranku. Duhovnim, nenasilnim i dostojanstvenim okupljanjima odgovoreno je na poku?aj DPS-a da se uo?i parlamentarnih izbora dodatno prodube podele u dru?tvu kako bi se ostvario politi?ki profit. U isto vreme, organizovanjem litija ustalo se u odbranu crnogorskog ustava i bazi?nih demokratskih principa i ljudskih prava prihva?enih u prosve?enom svetu.

Po?etna pozicija DPS-a uo?i raspisivanja izbora

Predsednik DPS-a Milo ?ukanovi? se u regionu ?esto komentari?e kao izrazito sna?na politi?ka li?nost, ?ije je politi?ko iskustvo garancija nepogre?ivosti u procenjivanju budu?ih poteza. Prve dve godine njegovog mandata predsednika dr?ave bile su, me?utim, ispunjene gre?kama koje su klju?no doprinele kako slabljenju njegovog politi?kog autoriteta, tako i slabljenju podr?ke DPS-a u bira?kom telu. To je bilo posebno vidljivo u njegovim javnim obra?anjima.

Komentari?u?i na primer slu?aj “Koverta” u kojem je jasno da je partija ?iji je predsednik kr?ila zakon, gospodin ?ukanovi? je izjavio: “To su radili mnogi poslovni ljudi, uklju?uju?i i gospodina Kne?evi?a. To nije sporno. Sve to ?to je ra?eno je zavr?avalo na odre?enoj adresi u Demokratskoj partiji socijalista, dakle u ra?unovodstvu DPS-a, tamo je pa?ljivo evidentirano. A prema dr?avnim organima su pravljeni onakvi izvje?taji kakve su ti dr?avni organi tra?ili”.

Ovakvim izjavama gospodin ?ukanovi? je samo u?vr??ivao mnjenje o DPS-u kao o kriminalnoj organizaciji u kojoj novac sti?e sa svih mogu?ih strana, a da se dr?avi ?alju frizirani izve?taji kako bi se zadovoljila forma. To je sigurno jedan od razloga i za netolerantan stav zapadnih saveznika prema ovakvom pona?anju gospodina ?ukanovi?a i partije ?iji je predsednik.

Drugi koristan primer su njegovi komentari litija, organizovanih povodom usvajanja spornog Zakona o slobodi veroispovesti. Neposredno po organizovanju prvih molitvenih ?etnji, gospodin ?ukanovi? je, obra?aju?i se svojim pristalicama u Tivtu, rekao: “Ne dozvolite da se va?a vjerska sloboda zloupotrebljava na na?in na koji se zloupotrebljava ovih dana po Crnoj Gori, a zloupotrebljava se da bi se sru?ila Crna Gora. E ne dozvolite da budete dio tog luda?kog pokreta”.

Ozna?avanje gra?ana svih vera i nacija koji protestuju kako bi za?titili ustav svoje dr?ave i verska prava vernika jedne verske zajednice u?esnicima luda?kog pokreta narednih dana je na ulice izvelo jo? ve?i broj gra?ana. Vrlo brzo se po Crnoj Gori pro?irio komentar da gospodin ?ukanovi? i DPS u poslednje vreme rade na svoju ?tetu. I to sli?no ili ?ak i gore nego ?to je tokom izborne kampanje u Hrvatskoj to radila kandidatkinja za predsednicu Hrvatske Kolinda Grabar Kitarovi?.

Deluje da su bili u pravu oni koji su tvrdili da nema razvla??ivanja DPS-a bez pomo?i samog DPS-a. A kud ?e ve?a pomo? nego kada na sopstvenom razvla??ivanju radi predsednik partije li?no.