Aleksa Bečić


Aleksa Bečić is a Montenegrin politician, current member of Parliament of Montenegro. He is the founder and current president of centrist political party Democratic Montenegro.

Biography

Bečić was born in Cetinje, Montenegrin Old Royal Capital, at that time part of the Socialist Republic of Montenegro of SFR Yugoslavia. Having finished elementary and secondary school of Economics in Podgorica, Bečić graduated at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Montenegro. He obtained a master's degree in 2014.

Political career

He led the Socialist People's Party electoral list in the Podgorica local election of May 2014 under the slogan "youth, wisdom and courage". In 2015 he became one of the founders of the Democratic Montenegro Party, when the faction of the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro defected from the political party, and formed new political subject, represented by 2 MPs in the Parliament of Montenegro. A newly formed party ran independently at the 2016 parliamentary election under the slogan "Victories, not divisions", increased their number of MPs from 2 to 9 and becoming one of main opposition parties in Montenegrin Parliament.

Allegations of plagiarism

In 2018, Bečić faced intense public scrutiny, as a research study conducted by NGO Center for Public Integrity accused him of plagiarising significant portions of his Master thesis from various online sources.
Bečić had repeatedly denied these allegations, calling it an coordinated smear campaign jointly conducted by parts of the Democratic Front and the Democratic Party of Socialists.