Good morning! Yesterday, the DPS blocked the work of parliament thus protesting against the prime minister’s disrespect for that institution. The former DPS small partners are uniting to save themselves. URA is seeking its place. The president is also in the opposition. Today we’re going to try to clarify who’s the opposition and who’s not, and what they’re doing.
The current state of play in the opposition
The DPS has prevented the fall in support for them, and it even looks like it’s growing a little. Although everything looks unconvincing to me, it seems as if they know what they’re doing. They can no longer abuse state resources because they don’t have them, but some other people do it. And the Democrats are the front-runners. However, a sociologist close to the 30th of August Movement, Bojan Baca, considers that it’s happening because PES left too many DPS former members in its structures who are still working for the DPS. It’s an interesting claim, but it’s hardly the truth. First of all, those who remain are either the hard-working and talented navigators of that bureaucratic jungle, or just ordinary members of the apparatus who don’t possess enough authority and political talents to bring success in the elections. Or they are full members of PES and other parties comprising the majority and just work for them.
So, the DPS produces certain results. We shall see whether the newly formed party of Dusko Markovic would stagger them. I estimate that around a quarter of voters of the Montenegrin bloc would support Dusko Markovic. The number of votes he would get from that voters’ reservoir depends on the party and field work, but political acumen as well.
Former collaborators of the DPS from smaller parties – SDP, SD and LP – have formed the European Alliance. What a unique name for the party. The DPS had almost all of their campaigns Europe-oriented. PES is Europe Now, Dusko Markovic the same, just somewhat reversed PES-SEP, and now we’ve got ES.
I feel like a Eurosceptic. Even more when I see Michel practicing strictness over us, while grilling kebabs with Vucic in Belgrade. Two years ago, but still – he did it.
The tripartite bloc making reference to the anti-war movement of the 90s could have referred to reform forces and the legacy of the movement of Ante Markovic and the missed opportunity with their name and branding. But it’s such a bother to do the creative work. There’s no time, they should do as much as they can and cross the threshold. No one cares for the common good. Only about social power and to survive by using state money.
URA argues with the Democrats. Everything has returned to normal. We’ve stepped into a period when the former minister of interior from URA is having fights with the current interior minister from the Democrats, arguing who’s working for the mafia. Like they were doing last year, before forming the pre-election alliance. This won’t prevent them from forming a bloc if such circumstances occur.
The President still hesitates to disclose himself but has the keys of Podgorica in his hands. Zeljko Ivanovic hopes he will persuade him to lead the middle-class bloc that is supposed to push the ‘DF and DPS’ in the opposition.
All in all, it’s a real mess. We don’t know who’s the real opposition and who’s in power. In a political sense, the government gains profits under such circumstances, while the parliament’s controlling role is minimal. The opposition turns it into a circus, instead of making the institutional and media pressure.
Discontent exists, but there’s no one to handle it. The same story as with the opposition when the DPS was in power. Until the church gathered them, nothing was happening. The problem with the new opposition is that there’s neither the church nor the authority or the common good to gather it.
That’s all for today. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM observer and columnist
(The opinions and views of our columnists aren’t necessarily those of the CdM news team)
