Montenegro’s President Milo Djukanovic has done many good things for Montenegro and brought the country closer to the EU and into NATO but he made one big mistake: he picked a fight with the Serbian Orthodox Church six months before the election and that is why he lost, Belgrade sociologist Vesna Pesic told N1 on Wednesday.
Pesic condemned the recent attacks against minorities in Montenegro that started after the election in the country which saw a pro-Serbian coalition taking a tight majority in parliament, ending the nearly three-decade-long rule of Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
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Pesic said that these attacks are a “big disappointment” but that she felt the election results represent a step forward. Montenegrin citizens grew tired of a corrupt government, she said, and the winning coalition leaders said they would not change any of the good things Djukanovic has done.
“I was very shaken when I heard that the attacks took place. Who is doing this? Who is attacking mosques and Muslims?” she asked, adding that she believes the still-ruling government is also to blame for it.
“I demand that Djukanovic immediately sends the police there to resolve this, he is still in power and I blame him for this,” she said.
Pesic said she knows Djukanovic personally and praised some of his past actions, arguing that he was the first one to come out and oppose the policies of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and that he brought Montenegro closer to the EU and into NATO. However, citizens became tired of the regime and wanted him out, she argued.
“Djukanovic made the mistake of feuding with the Serbian Orthodox Church. I must say: why would you pick a fight with them six months before the election?” she said, adding that Serbian Orthodox religious leaders played a “key part” in the outcome.
She also criticised Serbian authorities, particularly President Aleksandar Vucic, accusing him of playing a “double game.”
“We have not put Milosevic's legacy behind us, we still represent a threat to the region and the idea of a Greater Serbia has still not disappeared. There is still an attempt to unite Republika Srpska (Bosnia’s Serb-majority region) and Montenegro with Serbia,” she said.
Pesic said she wants to remain optimistic about the election results, arguing that “Montenegro might have made a step forward, while we (Serbia) are going backwards.”
