Liberal Party of Montenegro

Liberal Party of Montenegro Либерална партија Црне Горе Liberalna partija Crne Gore
President	Andrija Popović
Founder	Miodrag Živković
Founded	2004
Split from	Liberal Alliance of Montenegro
Headquarters	19. decembra, Podgorica
Youth wing	Youth Liberals of Montenegro
Ideology	Liberalism[1] Montenegrin nationalism Secularism
Political position	Centre
European affiliation	ALDE[2]
International affiliation	Liberal International (observer)
Colours	Blue and white
Parliament	1 / 81
Website
http://www.lpcg.me
Politics of Montenegro Political parties Elections

Liberal Party of Montenegro (Montenegrin: Либерална партија Црне Горе, Liberalna partija Crne Gore, LPCG) is a liberal^[1] political party in Montenegro, member of ALDE and observer at the Liberal International. The party advocated liberalism and the bringing down of Milo Đukanović's rule, seeing it as authoritarian and undemocratic. It had continued the fight against what it saw as the DPS' authoritarianism that the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro pursued since its foundation in 1990. However, the party changed its discourse and became a junior coalition partner of DPS both on local and national level.

Currently, LP president Andrija Popović is the party's sole representative in the Parliament of Montenegro, where LP is a part of the ruling majority. The party did not even run in the latest parliamentary election, but delegated two candidates to the electoral list of DPS, one of which was elected to the Parliament. Currently, LP is part of the parliamentary group with another minor ruling coalition partner, SD.

Ideology

Liberal party of Montenegro is a civic, liberal and secular party. During the 2012 pre-election program, Liberal Party advocated for legal decriminalization of marijuana, legalizing prostitution and advocated LGBT rights. Liberal party strongly supports the membership of Montenegro in EU and NATO. However, since 2012 LP is strongly linked with the ruling DPS, and does not pursue individual political goals.

History

The Liberal Party of Montenegro was founded on 28 October 2004 in Podgorica. It emerged from a faction of Liberal Alliance of Montenegro (LSCG), after a split between LSCG's leaders Miodrag Živković and Slavko Perović, and the expulsion of Živković faction due to serious corruption allegations, known in Montenegro as Trsteno Affair (sr). On 24 March 2005, Liberal Alliance of Montenegro decided to freeze its political activities.

In 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, LP aligned itself with pro-independence movement, consisting of Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro, Social Democratic Party of Montenegro and parties representing ethnic minorities. Liberal Party of Montenegro supports Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which claims to be the sole legitimate representative of Orthodox Christianity in Montenegro.

At the 2012 parliamentary elections LP participated in coalition European Montenegro, which won the election, receiving one seat in the Parliament. Due to internal disagreements, Liberal Party froze its membership in the Coalition for European Montenegro, and is acting in the Parliament in the group with the minority parties (Croatian and Albanian minority representatives). However, this change has been only formal, because the minority group is also an integral part of the ruling majority.

At the 2016 parliamentary election, LP did not run, but instead was given two candidate spots on the electoral list of Democratic Party of Socialists, one of which was elected to the Parliament.

Parliamentary elections

Parliament of Montenegro

Year	Popular vote	% of popular vote	Overall seats won	Seat change	Coalition	Government
2006	12,748	3.76%	2 / 81	2	LP-BS	government support
2009	8,759	2.7%	0 / 81	2	LP-DC	extra-parliamentary
2012	165,380	45.60%	1 / 81	1	ECG	government support
2016	158,490	41.41%	1 / 81		DPS	government support

See also

• Liberal youth of Montenegro
• Liberalism in Montenegro

References

External links

• Liberal Party of Montenegro Official site (in Montenegrin)
• Assembly of Montenegro
• Liberal youth of Montenegro