Movement for Changes

Movement for Changes (Montenegrin: Покрет за промјене, Pokret za promjene, or PzP) is a right-wing populist and eurosceptic political party in Montenegro. Its current leader and the founder is Nebojša Medojević. Since 2012, the Party is a constituent member of the Democratic Front alliance.

For other topics with similar names, see Movement for Change (disambiguation).

Movement for Changes Pokret za promjene Покрет за промјене
Leader	Nebojša Medojević
Founded	2002 (as an NGO) 2006 (as a party)
Headquarters	Podgorica
Ideology	Populism[1][2][3][4] Soft Euroscepticism Souverainism[4] Anti-corruption[5] Initially, now factions: Liberal conservatism[6] Economic liberalism Pro-Europeanism[7]
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
National affiliation	Democratic Front (2012–present)
European affiliation	Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe
International affiliation	International Democrat Union The Movement
Colours	Blue, yellow and light blue
Parliament	5 / 81
Local Parliaments	21 / 786
Website
promjene.org
Politics of Montenegro Political parties Elections

History

Party was founded by a group of economists and academics in September 2002 and was modeled after the Group 17 Plus in Serbia. It is led by Nebojša Medojević It operated as a non-governmental organization under the name Group for Changes (Grupa za promjene) until July 17, 2006, when it reconstituted itself as a political party.[8][9]

In the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, PzP remained neutral and did not campaign for either option, their choice being an outcome without the Movement's involvement. Although prominent members of the party supported an independent Montenegrin state, they refused to join the Bloc for an Independent Montenegro, led by the DPS. After the referendum, they stated that they did so out of opposition to Đukanović's rule, which they see as corrupt and undemocratic.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, the party ran for the first time, winning 11 of 81 seats. It became a vocal opposition party and forged links with the Serb People's Party and the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro in an attempt to unify the country's political opposition.

The party put forward amendments as part of the drafting process for the new Constitution of Montenegro, including the suggestion of official language status for the Serbian language alongside the existing proposal to declare Montenegrin the state language. The proposal was adopted by the ruling coalition, and PzP gave its support for the required two-thirds super-majority to adopt the Constitution. This support damaged its ties with other opposition parties to some extent. The presence of senior officials of Movement for Changes at protests against Montenegrin recognition of Kosovo, in turn, alienated some Albanian supporters of the Movement.

The party saw a fall in support at the 2009 parliamentary election, falling from 11 seats to 5. The Movement for Changes leader, Nebojša Medojević, was a candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He came in third, gathering nearly 17% of the vote. Since the 2012 parliamentary election, the party operates within the populist Democratic Front alliance.

PzP joined the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in May 2015.[10] In 2019, following Nebojsa Medojevic's meeting with Mischaël Modrikamen PzP announced its membership in The Movement, a coalition of populist parties chaired by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon.[11]

Ideology

Initially, the ideological profile of the Movement for Changes was a mix of fiscal conservatism and liberalism in economic policy,[9] atlanticism and souverainism in foreign policy, and moderate conservatism on social issues. Since founding, party has as a proclaimed goal the integration of their country into the European Union and political and economic reforms to bring it into line with European norms, PzP has also been a vocal advocate for Montenegro's NATO membership. Recently it takes a cautiously supportive attitude towards the country's EU integrations, opposing the European Union's further federalisation and frequently criticising the Brussels bureaucracy. The party, like its NGO predecessor, advocates as part a reform agenda change in the "undemocratic regime of the Democratic Party of Socialists" the party that has ruled Montenegro as the dominant partner in every coalition government since the end of communism, and the "dethroning" of multiple-term Prime-Minister and President Milo Đukanović. PzP also often referred to the Đukanovic regime in Montenegro as example of the Mafia state.

In recent years, the Movement for Changes has increasingly employed an antiglobalist and right-wing populist discourse, frequently depicting the Montenegrin society as fundamentally divided between ordinary citizens and a corrupt partocracy, the party also significantly changed its public appearance, with frequent populist, eurosceptic, anti-immigration, islamophobic and homophobic public statements of their high-ranked members.[12][13][14] The party leader Medojević publicly endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election, as well as political actions of Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini during the migrant crisis,[15] even naming the immigrants "terrorist army, financed by global banking fascists" on his official Twitter account, publishing series of photos of allegedly militant mid-eastern immigrants, it was later revealed by the media that the photos were not authentic, and were actually made on the set of the Netflix series Dogs of Berlin.[16][17]

PzP is recently known for often sensationalistic accusation of the ruling party politicians,[18] as well as some leaders of rival political parties and liberal media journalists for betraying national interests, even for work in interest of a foreign intelligence services and a deep state, as well as kind of George Soros-backed, "globalist lobby",[1][19] seen Soros as a kind of puppet master secretly controlling the global economy and politics. During the late-December 2019, as the new law of legal status of religious communities was adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro, Medojević accuses the Montenegrin authorities, some media and NGOs of allegedly being part of the "Jewish banking, globalist and anti-christian plot", that trying to "eliminate" christian tradition, values and cultural identity of the country.[20]

Elections

Parliamentary elections

Parliament of Montenegro

Year	Popular vote	% of popular vote	Overall seats won	Seat change	Coalition	Government
2006	44,483	13.13%	11 / 81	11	—	opposition
2009	19,546	6.0%	5 / 81	6	—	opposition
2012	82,773	22.82%	5 / 81		DF	opposition
2016	77,784	20.32%	5 / 81		DF	opposition
2020			0 / 81	TBA	DF	TBA

Presidential elections

President of Montenegro

Election	#	Candidate	1st round votes	%	2nd round	%	Notes
2008	3rd	Nebojša Medojević	54,874	16.64%	—	—
2013	2nd	Miodrag Lekić	154,289	48.79%	—	—	Independent, support
2018	2nd	Mladen Bojanić	111,711	33.40%	—	—	Independent, support

Footnotes

1. "Medojević: Politika za "21. vijek" je politika Soroša i globalnih bankarskih fašista". promjene.me.
2. Medojević prozvao Kacina i Lajčaka za primanje mita
3. Evropski populisti stižu u Crnu Goru
4. Medojević u Briselu: U “Movementu” vidimo istorijski pokret za odbranu suvereniteta
5. Medojević: Kriminal i korupcija najveći problemi Crne Gore
6. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2016). "Montenegro". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
7. Medojević: Samo ja ubrzavam put u EU, mondo.me
8. Pokret za promjene proslavio deceniju postojanja CdM
9. Bakke, Elisabeth (2010), "Central and East European party systems since 1989", Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989, Cambridge University Press, p. 80
10. Konzervativci i PzP nastavljaju saradnju Dan
11. Zajedno ka progresivnoj viziji EU, Radio i televizija Crne Gore, 6 February 2019
12. MEDOJEVIĆ: U Crnoj Gori i na Balkanu deluje tajni, opasni gej lobi, srbin.info
13. Savjet muslimanskog naroda: Skandalozna izjava Medojevića, Antena M
14. Medojević provodi novu istragu 'poturica', Al Jazeera
15. Mila Radulović, Miloš Rudović (July 24, 2016). "Vijesti: DF uz Trampa, DPS i URA bi Hilari Klinton" (in Serbian). Retrieved April 17, 2017.
16. Medojević: Migranti su vojska terora, koje je primila Vlada Crne Gore, in4s.net
17. Medojević svuda vidi "problem sa migrantima": Objavio fotografiju iz serije, Vijesti
18. IZMIŠLJAO PRIČE O MILU Saslušan Medojević , alo.rs
19. Medojević: Zašto nas napadju Sorošoidi iz Vijesti i NVO?, IN4S portal
20. MEDOJEVIĆ: Kabalista Ivanović i satanista Đukanović rade na eliminaciji hrišćanstva, srbin.info

External links

• Official Website (in Serbo-Croatian, with some English content)