Every second citizen is dissatisfied with the work of the Government, and the majority of respondents think that early parliamentary elections should be called ahead of time
Every second citizen is dissatisfied with the work of the Government, and the majority of respondents think that early parliamentary elections should be called ahead of time
Podgorica, PR press service – Every second citizen of Montenegro is dissatisfied with the work of the Government, more than 2/3 of citizens support Montenegro’s membership in the EU and 42.5 percent think that early parliamentary elections should be called ahead of time.
This was announced at the press conference of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) on the occasion of the presentation of the first comprehensive survey of political public opinion in 2021, which you can download here.
The director of CEDEM, Milena Bešić, stated that 41.1 percent of the respondents answered that Montenegro is going the wrong way.
“It is indicative that since 2009, the number of those who believe that Montenegro is moving in the wrong direction has increased by 20 percent. A larger number of those who are dissatisfied with the performance of the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić – every other citizen, and only 5.2 percent of those surveyed said that they were very satisfied, “said Bešić.
She explained that according to the measurement criteria, the state of trust in institutions that exceeds 40 percent is satisfactory, and in this case only three institutions exceed that percentage. However, she emphasized that we are talking about institutions with which citizens have a direct and personal relationship.
“The trend of declining trust in institutions continues, regardless of the change of government, and there is a particularly drastic drop in trust in political institutions, which indicates that these institutions must make additional efforts to restore the trust of citizens,” Besic said.
If parliamentary elections were held next week, 31 percent of committed citizens would vote for the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), 18.7 percent for Democratic Front (DF), 18.4 percent for Democrats, 6.4 percent for URI, Bosniak Party 4, 4, to the SNP 3.5 percent, to the Special Democrats (SD) 3.5 percent, to the SDP 3 percent, while other parties are around or below the threshold.
“The DPS is still the single strongest political party. However, the DPS does not have the capacity to form a majority with traditional partners. “Without one of the key actors such as the DPS, DF and the Democrats, no other combination of government is possible, and in order to maintain the current government, the parliamentary majority must find a compromise,” Besic said.
If Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic formed his party, at least 4.9 percent of citizens said they would certainly or probably vote for that party, which would be enough to secure parliamentary status.
When asked whether it is necessary to call early parliamentary elections, 30.5 percent of respondents think that early parliamentary elections should be called as soon as possible, 12 percent that they should be called on the same day as the next presidential election.
“Among those who think that they should be called as soon as possible are mostly supporters of the former government, ie the current opposition, while on the other hand those who think that early parliamentary elections should not be called are mostly respondents who support the current government,” Besic explained.
If the presidential elections were held tomorrow, as she said, 41.5 percent of citizens would vote for Milo Djukanovic, 19.4 percent for Aleksa Becic, 11.5 percent for Andrija Mandic, Zdravko Krivokapic 9.6, Dritan Abazovic 7.3 percent .
“We can conclude that a single candidate from the current government would have an advantage over Djukanovic,” Besic said.
CEDEM Program Manager Marko Pejović said that more than two thirds of Montenegrin citizens support Montenegro’s membership in the European Union, and 45 percent of citizens believe that Montenegro should remain a member of NATO.
“The largest number of citizens, over 40 percent of them, believe that Montenegro should rely on the EU in foreign policy,” Pejovic said.
He stated that 56.6 percent of citizens believe that the influence of Serbia is stronger or the same as it was before the change of government, while at the same time every other citizen thinks that the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church is stronger or excessive on the Government of Montenegro.
“More than a quarter of citizens believe that it is necessary to publicly publish the content of the so-called Based agreement, and only then talk about signing, and the same number believes that it should be signed in Montenegro, while every fifth believes that Montenegro should not sign this agreement. “, Said Pejović.
When it comes to the issue of the census, over 50 percent believe that the census should be held regularly this year. Every fourth citizen thinks that the census should be postponed, because the political circumstances are such that they can influence the result of the census, while 22 percent of citizens do not have an opinion on that issue. According to him, 45% of citizens would declare themselves as Montenegrins on the census, while 30% would declare themselves as Serbs. 5.7 percent of respondents would vote for Bosniaks, 4.3 percent for Muslims, 3.8 percent for Albanians, while other nationalities would be less than 1 percent.
“What is certain is that changes in the national structure of the population in the upcoming census cannot be expected,” Pejovic explained.
Over 70 percent of citizens believe that Montenegro is an independent state and there is no need to reconsider the issue of Montenegrin independence.
Considering the frequent public discussions regarding the activities on finding oil and gas, Pejović pointed out that about 53 percent of them think that they should work on these activities, while 26.7 percent are against. In the end, “over 40% of citizens believe that the Government and the competent institutions are very well and mostly well suppressing the coronary virus pandemic,” concluded Pejović.
The research was conducted from June 18 to 26 of the current year on a sample of 1,015 respondents.
