To be or not to be for Vraneš

The President of the Municipal Assembly of Pljevlja Jovana Tošić has scheduled for today the continuation of the 24th session of the local parliament, which originally began on December 29 last year. The agenda includes the proposal for this year’s municipal budget and reports on the work of municipal companies. However, according to our sources, there is a possibility that there will once again be no quorum.

The political crisis in Pljevlja intensified at the end of last year but has actually been ongoing since 2024, following a split within the local committee of New Serbian Democracy (NSD). Since then, the current head of the committee Milan Lekić - a close associate of party leader and President of the Parliament of Montenegro Andrija Mandić - has been trying to secure a majority in the city parliament to remove the Mayor Dario Vraneš.

He attempted to oust him in September 2024, but it turned out that Vraneš had managed to establish strong connections both with NSD voters and with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has had a dominant influence on political processes in Montenegro since 2020.

 Negotiations and agreements

Since then, both sides have been working intensively on the ground to win over NSD’s voter base.

Meanwhile, Vraneš’s dismissal is also being demanded by the Europe Now Movement of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, as well as by the Democrats party led by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić.

According to the latest unofficial information, the Democrats have somewhat softened their stance and are willing to support the budget under certain conditions.

Within the NSD councilors’ club, our sources say divisions remain, with some threatening not to attend this morning’s session.

That the conflict within the Pljevlja branch of NSD is serious was confirmed by a recent protest by a part of the party’s membership held in front of the party’s offices, where participants demanded that Lekić’s supporters attend the Municipal Assembly session and support the adoption of the budget.

After that, Mandić became involved and, as announced following his meeting with Vraneš and other local party officials, all ten NSD councilors will support the budget. However, sources from the ETV Portal claim that there is still a real possibility that this may not happen.

The Europe Now Movement has maintained its position that it will not support the budget and will withdraw support from Vraneš, although the status of the Pljevlja government does not depend on their three councilors.

The opposition Democratic Party of Socialists called on NSD to return their mandates to the citizens.

- Instead of wasting time writing futile statements, show at least a bit of political responsibility, return your mandates to the citizens, and admit that your government has completely collapsed - they said.

Meanwhile, the NSD coordination club in Pljevlja yesterday invited members of the party’s Municipal Board to a „joint viewing of the session“ in the party’s offices. The invitation was published on the Pljevljske Novine portal but was soon removed.

The day before the Municipal Assembly session in Pljevlja was also marked by an incident in the Mileta Garden café, where, according to some local media reports, the director of the Secondary Vocational School Bojan Strunjaš (Lekić’s candidate for „Vraneš’s chair“), entered into a verbal conflict with journalist Milenko Jelić, who Strunjaš claims tried to film him and the friends he was sitting with. At the table with him were NSD councilors Slobodan Radović and Marko Potparić.

Later, Strunjaš posted on Facebook: „Those who are melting cling to Milenko Jelić“, claiming that someone had sent him to record the scene.

The Europe Now Movement hopes to win over NSD voters

Sources from Pljevlja told the ETV Portal that Spajić’s PES is trying to exploit the conflicts within NSD in order to attract some of their voters.

- Over the past ten days, contacts between the Europe Now Movement headquarters in Podgorica and representatives in Pljevlja have intensified. Spajić is closely following developments in Pljevlja, primarily because of the implementation of certain projects involving Europe Now Movement officials from Pljevlja, from which they take money for themselves - our sources say.

According to them, the Europe Now Movement will intensify its work on the ground to deepen the conflict within NSD and the governing crisis, and to push for the introduction of a temporary administration.

- In that case, the plan is for Europe Now Movement personnel to take on a key role in running the municipality. They estimate that with a temporary administration they could establish themselves as the key political factor at the local level and capitalize on that in the next elections in 2027 - the unofficial interlocutors say.

According to our sources, the key lever for the Europe Now Movement in winning over voters is the Pljevlja Coal Mine. The company is headed by Europe Now Movement member Nemanja Laković, who is gaining increasing influence in the city. Through the local party headquarters and Saša Bjeković, they say, supporters and sympathizers of this party are being employed.

For some time now, the leaders of the Europe Now Movement and NSD in Pljevlja have been „at war“, especially since NSD no longer has almost any influence over developments in the coal mine. However, our sources claim that party leader Andrija Mandić „has asked that no hasty steps be taken that could further complicate the situation“.

- It is very possible that Mandić will try to resolve the crisis in the city with the help of the clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Pljevlja, as he has done in previous situations, in order to reach a compromise - the sources say.

Although, they add, Mandić supports Lekić in the conflict with Vraneš, there are increasingly loud comments within the local NSD that Lekić, through inappropriate behavior and wrong moves, lost control over the coal mine and enabled the Europe Now Movement to take full control of this state-owned company.

- Even they estimate that NSD will receive fewer votes in the next elections in Pljevlja compared to the previous ones, which is likely considering that the Europe Now Movement (after taking over the coal mine) has employed a large number of its supporters and has also managed to convert a significant number of employees who previously supported NSD - our sources claim.