Filip Vujanovic
President of Montenegro
(Montenegro Parliament Web site, Democratic Party of Socialists Web site; News Agencies and Wire Services) |
Filip Vujanovic was elected president of Montenegro on 11 May 2003. A former speaker of Montenegro's Parliament and a former prime minister, Vujanovic became the republic's first president after Serbia-Montenegro was formed. He won the post with a landslide victory in the third election attempt in six months. The previous two attempts were declared void due to low voter turnout.
Vujanovic was born on 1 September 1954 in Belgrade and graduated from the Faculty of Law there in 1978.
From 1978 to 1981, Vujanovic worked at a municipal court and then as an official associate at the Belgrade District Court.
Since 1981, Vujanovic has been working and living in Podgorica. After a short assignment as secretary of the Podgorica District Court, he worked as an attorney until March 1993 when he was appointed as the minister of justice in Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's cabinet. Vujanovic filled the post until May 1995, when he was appointed minister of the interior, and held that post until February 1998.
Several months after winning the July 1997 presidential election in Montenegro, Djukanovic proposed that Vujanovic take the prime minister seat. Vujanovic served as prime minister from February 1998 until April 2002, when he submitted his resignation amid a government crisis over the deal with Serbia to reshape the country into a loose union of two states.
Following legislative elections in October 2002, Vujanovic became parliamentary speaker.
Vujanovic is deputy chairman of Djukanovic's pro-independence Democratic Party of Socialists.
After his presidential victory, Vujanovic outlined EU accession and entry into NATO's Partnership for Peace programme as top priorities. "I will be the president of all citizens, who will lead Montenegro towards the EU," Vujanovic said, promising supporters to call a referendum for independence after three years.
Vujanovic is married and has two daughters and a son.