Samir KajosevicPodgoricaBIRNApril 6, 202310:21Milo Djukanovic on Wednesday resigned as head of the once dominant Democratic Party of Socialists following his landslide defeat in the presidential elections.
President Milo Djukanovic at the polling station in Podgorica. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic
Montenegro’s outgoing President, Milo Djukanovic, resigned on Wednesday as leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, ahead of a party congress and following his defeat in the presidential elections.
On April 2, Djukanovic lost the second-round vote to Europe Now candidate Jakov Milatovic, losing power 32 years after he was first appointed Prime Minister in February 1991.
On Wednesday, university professor Milan Popovic said Djukanovic’s resignation was to be expected after the series of DPS electoral losses.
“It is a historically significant event, because after 30 years a leader is leaving power. It doesn’t mean that a new and positive democratic era will automatically begin, as a difficult and long recovery of Montenegrin society will follow,” Popovic told the media.
Djukanovic has been DPS leader since 1997. which after his defeat in the presidential elections no longer has any senior state officials. On Wednesday, the party presidency appointed MP Danijel Zivkovic as interim leader ahead of a party congress to be held in the next months.
On March 17, Djukanovic said the party congress should take place two or three months after early legislative elections due on June 11, stressing that a good election result is a priority.
On Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said parliament will shorten its mandate and decide on a new early legislative election date, after new state president Milatovic’s inauguration.
Journalist Nikola Markovic said on Thursday that it is likely too late for reforms within Djukanovic’s party, despite his resignation.
“I think the DPS can no longer be a representative party. There will be no reforms if they appoint some younger official as a new party leader. These people, although young, have been in politics for a long time, and would just continue Djukanovic’s policy in the party with other names,” Markovic told the daily Vijesti.
The DPS dominated Montenegro for almost three decades but lost power in the August 2020 parliamentary elections to an uneasy coalition of three former opposition blocs.
The political fall in its fortunes continued in the local elections last October, when it lost control of 10 out of 14 municipalities, including the capital, Podgorica. In local elections in December 2021, it also lost power in its old strongholds in the towns of Mojkovac and Cetinje.
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