Milo resigns, once more

Yesterday, Milo Djukanovic resigned for the second time as Prime Minister. Ever since his return after a bit more than year out of office in 2008, he has made it clear that his return was temporary and he would not serve the full a term after winning elections in 2009. His resignation is thus no surprise. He announcement that he will remain president of the ruling DPS suggests that he wants to retain strong control over the party and government–let’s not forget that running the party is as (if not more) influential than running the country.

For years, Igor Luksic has been tipped as the presumed successor to Djukanovic. Sturanovic, PM last time Djukanovic resigned, was seen as a stop-gap solution until Luksic would be older and have consolidated his power base to take over. It now seems that Djukanovic believes Luksic can take over. Milo cannot come back once more without loosing a lot of credibility, thus this transition of power will have to succeed.

As in the past, the main challengers are not from opposition, but from within the DPS. Thus, the interesting question in the coming months will be, whether the DPS will remain unified in supporting Luksic and he will be able to persuade those in the party less supportive to accept him. Considering that the tensions with the DPS are not just over personality, but also over how to proceed with reforms, it seems unlikely that the party can survive without fracturing in the medium run. In this case, the situation is different than a few years back. One of the main opposition parties, the SNP led by Srdjan Milic has moved away from its previously strongly pro-Serbian line and opposition to independence. It’s more pragmatic approach might make it (or at least parts of it) a potential partner for part of the DPS, in case it splits, in the future. And by the way, guess from which the SNP split off in 1997: the DPS.