Liberal Party of Montenegro

Liberal Party of Montenegro Либерална Партија Црне Горе Liberalna Partija Crne Gore
President	Andrija Popović
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Podgorica
Ideology	Liberalism, Social liberalism, Secularism
Political position	Center-left
European affiliation	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
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 centre-left liberal 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.

Ideology

LP is anti-war and supports the expression of political will, as well as the political activity of citizens who desire to constitute and develop Montenegro as a democratic and independent state. The aims of the party are the fulfillment of ideals of free individuals; free people; liberal democracy, private property; free market and social justice, through action based on the principles and traditions of European liberal democracy.

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.

Current position

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.

During the 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.

See also

• Liberal youth of Montenegro
• Liberalism
• Liberalism worldwide
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
• Liberalism in Montenegro

External links

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