Socialist People's Party of Montenegro
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| Socialist People's Party of Montenegro | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Leader | Srđan Milić |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Podgorica |
| Political ideology | Social democracy |
| International affiliation | |
| Website | http://www.snp.cg.yu |
The Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (Serbian/Montenegrin: Socijalistička narodna partija Crne Gore) is a political party in Montenegro.
It emerged from defeated fraction of DPS, then led by Momir Bulatović.
At the last legislative elections in Montenegro, 10 September 2006, the coalition of SNP, NS and DSS won 11 out of 81 seats in the Parliament of Montenegro. Out of this, Socialist People's Party of Montenegro will have 8 seats.
[edit] History
In mid 1990s, a split on the highest level of party officials of DPS was evident - while Momir Bulatović insisted on continuing support to Slobodan Milošević's policies, a fraction led by Milo Đukanović distanced itself from Serbian leadership.
Đukanović's fraction eventually prevailed, and in 1997 Bulatović created a new party, Socialist People's Party of Montenegro. The party continued to support Milošević, and was a proponent of a strong union of Serbia and Montenegro.
By 2000, Milošević began to lose its ground in Serbia, ant it became apparent that he no longer had support neither in international community, nor in his own country. Yet, Momir Bulatović was still a close ally of Milošević. That fact led to a split within the SNP on whether to stay loyal to Milošević, or to become a party with more democratic image. The faction led by Predrag Bulatović prevailed and he became SNP's president. The party continued to be a proponent of the union with Serbia.
Although some ethnic Serb parties took advantage of the SNP's new orientation and attracted some voters, SNP continued to be the strongest opposition party in Montenegro. It was the leader of the Movement for European Union of Serbia and Montenegro, which eventually failed to preserve the union with Serbia. SNP avoided to explicitly state its rejection of the Montenegrin independence referendum results, but it refused to attend the country's inauguration ceremonies. Other pro-union opposition parties openly refused to recognize the results.
On the first parliamentary elections in independent Montenengro, SNP saw the largest downfall of the number of its voters since the founding of the party. The coalition it had led in 2002 elections fell from 30 to 11 seats in the Montenegrin parliament. SNP lost its status of leader of Montenegrin opposition in favour of Serbian List led by Serbian People's Party of Montenegro (12 seats) and Movement for Changes (11 seats). This resulted in resignation of party's leader Predrag Bulatović, as well as three vice-presidents.
On the 27th of December 2006, Srđan Milić was announced new party president,after gaining the majority of General Party Congress votes,and beating the other two candidates, Dragiša Pešić and Borislav Globarević.
