Montenegro Gets Its Long-Awaited President Search TOL Aug 2000 - present: Jun 1997 - Jul 2000: OMRI archive: SEARCH BRR BRR NEWSLETTER enter your email see a sample ADVERTISEMENT Montenegro Gets Its Long-Awaited President 12 May 2003 PODGORICA, Serbia and Montenegro--The sky over the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica was alight with fireworks as the city’s jubilant citizens celebrated Filip Vujanovic’s victory in 11 May presidential elections. As the first unofficial results came in around midnight on 11 May, Vujanovic, former Montenegrin prime minister and the presidential candidate backed by the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), had 63.8 percent of the vote--a comfortable lead over Liberal Alliance candidate Miodrag Zivkovic and independent candidate Dragan Hajdukovic, who had 31.8 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. Vujanovic’s victory did not come as a surprise, as the main opposition coalition failed to agree on a single candidate to nominate for president. “The results were expected,” Vujanovic told the public after the first official results were announced. Vujanovic is Montenegro’s first president since the former Yugoslav republic formed a loose union with Serbia in February. Montenegro’s last two presidential elections in December 2002 and February of this year failed due to low voter turnout. This time around, things were easier. Two months ago, the Montenegrin parliament abolished the 50 percent voter turnout requirement. According to the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSid), just over 48 percent of Montenegro’s 456,000 registered voters turned out at the polls. Two percent of the votes cast, 4,500 votes, were invalid, said CeSid. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) deployed a 70-member international monitoring mission. In a 12 May press release, the OSCE said that Montenegro’s presidential elections were conducted “generally in line with international standards.” “As a result of the reform of Montenegro's electoral framework over the past months and years, this election was conducted efficiently and on the basis of greatly improved legislation,” said Paul O'Grady, head of the observation mission. Vujanovic, whose DPS supports independence for Montenegro, recently announced that if elected he would call a referendum on Montenegro’s independence in three years. According to the Constitutional Charter of the new state union of Serbia and Montenegro, each republic has the right to hold a referendum on independence after three years. Though Vujanovic emerged victorious, his popularity has fallen in recent months. He won 30,000 fewer votes than during the February presidential elections. Commenting on his drop in popularity, Vujanovic told independent radio AntenaM, “There are two reasons why I got 30,000 votes less this time. First of all, Montenegro participated in elections five times in the past year, so people are tired of elections. Secondly, our electorate already knew the winner, so it was hard to motivate the voters to cast ballots again.” Vujanovic’s victory was practically sealed when it became clear that the pro-Serb opposition coalition--the Socialist People’s Party (SNP), People’s Party (NS) and Serbian People’s Party (SNS)--failed to agree on a joint candidate. The People’s Party was the only opposition member to publicly back the hardline pro-independence Liberal Alliance’s Zivkovic. Thanking those who voted for him, Zivkovic said he was sorry that the opposition failed to take advantage of the “historical” opportunity to beat the regime. “The victory failed because the Socialist People’s Party, the Serbian People’s Party, and the opposition as a whole did not fully support me,” said Zivkovic. According to the OSCE press release, “the observer mission expressed regret that the failure of major opposition parties to field a candidate narrowed the choice offered to the Montenegrin voters in what was generally a low-key and uneventful election process.” Local analysts expressed surprise that the opposition remained so powerless despite Vujanovic’s decline in popularity. “Zivkovic's result showed that though citizens expressed less trust in the authorities, their confidence in the opposition parties was even lower,” said Miodrag Vlahovic, head of Podgorica's Institute for Strategic Studies. Piter Palmer, an analyst with the International Crisis Group (ICG), says he believes the international community is pleased with the results for the simple reason that Montenegro needed a president. “The prolonged story has finally ended. Now the government must begin reforms, and the opposition has to participate in that process, as well,” said Palmer. --by Aida Ramusovic We want your feedback. If you have comments on this, or any other TOL article, please email us at react@tol.cz Copyright © 2003 Transitions Online. All rights reserved. FROM TOL: Jobs: St. Petersburg State University: SUMMER JOURNALISM SCHOOL by 23 May 2003 Buridan’s Ass Neither Moscow nor Tiraspol have much interest in resolving Transdniester’s frozen conflict, while the Moldovan government is prepared to offer much for a solution but cannot offer more. 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