Movement for Changes

Movement for Changes Pokret za promjene Покрет за промјене
Leader	Nebojša Medojević
Founded	2002 2006
Headquarters	Podgorica
Ideology	Liberal conservatism[1]
Political position	Centre-right
International affiliation	None
Official colours	Light blue, yellow
Parliament	5 / 81
Website
http://www.promjene.org
Politics of Montenegro Political parties Elections

Movement for Changes (Serbian/Montenegrin: Покрет за Промјене, Pokret za Promjene, or PzP) is a political party in Montenegro which has a proclaimed goal to integrate their country into the European Union and to support political and economic reforms to bring it into line with European norms. It was founded by a group of economists and academics in September 2002, modeled after the Group 17 Plus in Serbia^[1] and 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.

The party's origins lie in a non-governmental organization that bent itself on enlightening the people woven by the, as they refer to it, "undemocratic regime of the Democratic Party of Socialists" that rules in Montenegro, and ended up as a pro-European democratic political party whose main goal is to dethrone Milo Đukanović and defeat DPS.

In the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006, PzP remained neutral and did not campaign at any of the two blocs, their choice being to leave the people to decide their fate without the Movement's involvement. Although prominent members of the party mainly in term supported an independent Montenegrin state, they refused to join Bloc for Independent Montenegro. After the referendum, they stated that they did so because they vehemently oppose Milo Đukanović's rule, which they see as a corrupt tyranny and undemocratic dictatorship. This is, however, a matter of controversy, as the Movement has maintained close ties with the Together for Change pro-unionist bloc.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2006 parliamentary elections, the party ran for the first time and received an outstanding result for a new party, winning 11 of 81 seats and fulfilling the massive expectations. It has become a strong opposition party in the government and has been forging links with the Serb People's Party and the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro in attempts to unify the opposition in different ways.

The Movement for Changes' amendments to the proposal of the new Constitution of Montenegro (one of them not to entirely exclude Serbian as the official language of Montenegro, next to proposed Montenegrin) were mainly adopted by ruling coalition, and PzP has agreed to give support for the required two-third super-majority to adopt the Constitution. This move of the Movement for Changes has 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, on the other side, alienated some of the Albanian voters of the Movement.

These shifts in policies had a negative impact on image of Movement for Changes, thus the party saw a dramatic fall at 2009 parliamentary election, falling from 11 to 5 seats in Parliament of Montenegro.

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.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Bakke, Elisabeth (2010), "Central and East European party systems since 1989", Central and Southeast European Politics Since 1989 (Cambridge University Press): p. 80, http://books.google.de/books?id=oFXdiS25N78C&pg=PA80&dq=movement+for+changes+montenegro+liberal+conservative&hl=de&ei=oJ3GTsOVBInYsgaon7ynBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=movement%20for%20changes%20montenegro%20liberal%20conservative&f=false, retrieved 18 November 2011 

External links

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