Filip Vujanović

Filip Vujanović Филип Вујановић
President of Montenegro
Incumbent
Assumed office 22 May 2003
Prime Minister	Milo Đukanović Željko Šturanović Milo Đukanović
Preceded by	Rifat Rastoder (Acting) Dragan Kujović (Acting)
In office 25 November 2002 – 19 May 2003 Acting
Prime Minister	Milo Đukanović
Preceded by	Milo Đukanović
Succeeded by	Rifat Rastoder (Acting) Dragan Kujović (Acting)
Prime Minister of Montenegro
In office 5 February 1998 – 5 November 2002
President	Radoje Kontić
Preceded by	Milo Đukanović
Succeeded by	Dragan Đurović (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1954-09-01) 1 September 1954 Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
Political party	Democratic Party of Socialists
Spouse	Svetlana Vujanović

Filip Vujanović (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Филип Вујановић) (born September 1, 1954) is a Montenegrin politician who, since 2003, has served as the President of Montenegro. He is the first President of Montenegro since it split ties with Serbia and became an independent nation in June 2006. He claimed a landslide victory in the Montenegrin presidential election held on April 6, 2008.

From 21 May 2008 he is serving his second presidential term.

Early life and career

Born and raised in Belgrade, Vujanović graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School. Between 1978 and 1981 he worked in one of the city's Municipal Courts, and later also as an assistant at the Belgrade District Court.

In 1981, aged 27, he moved to Titograd. Following a short stint as secretary at Titograd's District Court, he worked as a lawyer until entering politics in March 1993.

Career in politics

Vujanović joined the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro in 1993 upon the invitation of then's President Momir Bulatović with the end of the Fall of Yugoslavia and constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia just of Montenegro and Serbia. He was a Minister of Justice in Đukanović's pro-Slobodan Milošević 1993-1996 government, and then Minister of the Interior from 1996 to 1998. During the 1997 DPS CG leadership conflict, though at first neutral, he sided with Milo Đukanović after he won the presidential election and supported him for new President of DPS.

Milo then handpicked him and nominated him as the first Prime Minister of Montenegro from February 5, 1998 until January 8, 2003 with a more democratic perspective and aimed against Milošević. On November 5, 2002, he became speaker of the Montenegrin parliament, a position which, starting on November 25, 2002, made him acting president of Montenegro due to the resignation of Milo Đukanović from the presidency in order to prepare to replace Vujanović as prime minister. Vujanović ran in the December 2002 presidential elections and won a landslide victory, receiving 86% of the vote, but the election was ruled to be invalid because turnout was less than 50%. The elections were held again in February 2003, with Vujanović winning 81% of the vote, but again turnout was below 50%. The elections were held for a third time on May 11, 2003, with the minimum turnout rule abolished, and Vujanović won again with 63% of the vote. Vujanović resigned from his positions as speaker and acting president on May 19, but became president of Montenegro again three days later when his term began. Even though he was born and raised in Serbia, he was one of the most prominent Montenegrin secessionists. Filip represents the moderate-ideology DPS, unlike hard-core extreme under Milo Đukanović.

As president of Montenegro, Vujanović was a supporter of the Montenegro independence referendum, though Prime Minister Đukanović was much more high-profile in his campaign for it. Vujanović’s messages often focus on Montenegro’s and Serbia’s ability to have a peaceful separation and post-independence cooperation, and he is friends with Serbian president Boris Tadić. [1]

In April 2007, President Vujanović declared he will protect the property of the main religious institution in Montenegro, the Serbian Orthodox Church during an attempt of the non-canonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church to forcibly seize its property.

At 2008 presidential election, Vujanović ran for the second presidential term, and secured another five years in office in the first election round, with 51.89% vote. The turnout was 68.2%.

Personal

Since May 1985, he has been married to Svetlana, court judge, with whom he has three children: two daughters (Tatjana and Nina), and a son (Danilo). Unlike Đukanović, he refuses to have bodyguards, so he can be often seen walking the streets of Podgorica with friends, but no security.

External links

• 2008 Presidential campaign website

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