Miodrag Lekić

Miodrag Lekić (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодраг Лекић; born 21 November 1947) is a Montenegrin political scientist, diplomat and politician, current member of Montenegrin Parliament. He is the founder and current president of liberal conservative political party DEMOS.

Miodrag Lekić
Миодраг Лекић
Miodrag Lekić in September 2020
Member of Parliament
Assumed office
14 October 2012
PresidentRanko Krivokapić
Darko Pajović
Ivan Brajović
Aleksa Bečić
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
September 1992 – December 1995
Prime MinisterMilo Đukanović
Preceded byNikola Samardžić
Succeeded byJanko Jeknić
Personal details
Born (1947-11-21) 21 November 1947
Bar, Montenegro, Yugoslavia
Political partyDEMOS (2015–present)
Independent (until 2015)
Other political
affiliations		Democratic Front
(2012–2015)
Alma materUniversity of Belgrade
WebsiteOfficial website

Biography
Miodrag Lekić (right) during a visit to Old Royal Capital Cetinje in 2012.

Early academic and political career

Lekić studied political science with focus on international relations at the University of Belgrade, graduating in 1971. He worked as a professor at "Niko Rolović" gymnasium and was a director of cultural and informative center in Bar. He received a French government scholarship to further his studies at the Paris-Sorbonne University from 1976 to 1977.[1] In 1986 he became a member of the Government of Montenegro, and in 1987 he was a member of the Yugoslav delegation for UNESCO cooperation.[2]

Diplomatic career

From 1990 to 1992, Lekić served as ambassador of the SFR Yugoslavia in Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho.[2] From September 1992 to December 1995, he was the minister of foreign affairs of the Republic of Montenegro. Subsequently, he became Yugoslav ambassador to Italy and Malta for two terms (1995-1999 and 2001-2003). Between 1999 and 2001 he worked for the United Nations's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).[1][2] During his second term he received a wide media attention for his strong criticism of NATO intervention in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War, most notably in Porta a Porta talk show.[3]

Academic career in Italy

In 2003, Lekić fell out with the new Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović and left the Yugoslav diplomatic service.[4] He became a lecturer at the LUISS Guido Carli in Rome. He taught comparative politics from 2003 to 2004, international negotiation technique from 2004 to 2012 and diplomacy from 2012 to 2013. At the same time, he lectured international relations and negotiation technique at the faculty of humanities, Sapienza University of Rome from 2005 to 2007.[1]

Return to Montenegrin politics

In 2011, he founded the Center for International Policy and European Integration (CEMP) in Podgorica. In 2012, he became the leader of the opposition alliance Democratic Front formed by the Movement for Changes (PzP) and the New Serb Democracy (NOVA).[4] He led the alliance's list in the parliamentary election of October 2012. Lekić ran in the 2013 presidential election, supported by both his Democratic Front and the Socialist People's Party. According to the electoral committee's report, he was narrowly defeated by incumbent Filip Vujanović. However, many independent observers insisted that Vujanović's victory came about as the result of an electoral fraud, which resulted in a number of demonstrations of Lekić's supporters. Following internal disagreements within the coalition, Lekić split from DF and formed the new political party - Democratic Alliance (Demos) on 18 May 2015, announcing its two main goals: making Montenegro into a legal and decriminalised country and unifying the opposition parties.[5]

See also

References
  1. Miodrag Lekić's biography at the LUISS Guido Carli Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. http://lekic.me/index.php/biografija/2012-09-27-20-43-03.
  3. Video on YouTube
  4. Early elections in Montenegro; new opposition front created, European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity, 26 July 2012, archived from the original on 22 February 2014, retrieved 11 April 2013
  5. Lekić founds a new party, Demos; new opposition front created, CDM, 18 May 2015
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.