Montenegrin (party)


Montenegrin is a minor liberal political party in Montenegro, founded in 2017 as the successor to Montenegrin Democratic Union. The party has no seats in the Parliament of Montenegro, and is yet to contest the parliamentary election. It currently has 3 representatives in the Budva municipal assembly, elected in 2016.

History

, founder and first president of CDU, resigned and was succeeded by Dragan Ivančević, whose election was followed by the rebranding of the party. Some notable members of the party, such as leader Ivančević and president of Political Council, Miodrag Živković, are former members of the Liberal Party of Montenegro and Liberal Alliance of Montenegro. The party is non-parliamentary, since its foundation as the CDU, and its greatest achievement has been winning 3 seats in Budva local parliament at the 2016 local elections.
In 2018, Vladimir Pavićević was elected as the new party leader. During Pavicević's leadership the party was in close relations with opposition Democratic Montenegro, which sparked criticism of part of party members.
On 28 January 2020 at the height of the political crisis in Montenegro, Pavićević announced he was leaving the party, following ideological disagreements with party membership, many local committees collectively leave the party and join the Democrats. After Pavićević's departure, the party is increasingly returning to the nationalist discourse, as well supporting the policies of the DPS-led government and President Đukanović, which led to the crisis of the Budva local coalition government, and the removal of the previous opposition-led local authorities, which was accompanied by arrests, police brutality and violence against local government officials and its supporters, as well the return of the DPS to local government in Budva.