World

Milosevic Schedules September Vote

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 5, 2000 / 11:00 PM EDT / CBS

Betting on maintaining his iron grip on power after tilting vote laws in his favor, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday called presidential, parliamentary and local elections for Sept. 24.

The ballot will be the autocratic ruler's first major test since last year's NATO air war left his country internationally isolated and economically impoverished.

Serbia's leading opposition party—the Serbian Renewal Movement—and Yugoslavia's junior republic of Montenegro have said they will boycott the vote. But most other Serbian opposition parties have indicated they would participate in the vote despite recent changes to the constitution and electoral laws favoring the regime.

The changes include:

Legislation giving Milosevic the option of running for two more four-year terms.
Electing a Yugoslav president by a simple majority of popular vote, regardless of turnout, instead of by the federal parliament.
Electing federal parliament deputies by popular vote, instead by separate assemblies in Montenegro and Serbia, which reduces the Montenegrin government's control over its representatives and makes it easier for Milosevic to push politicians loyal to him.

Milosevic, whose mandate expires in July 2001, apparently hopes to cement his 10-year autocratic rule in his power base of Serbia.

"The regime is obviously in a hurry to hold the elections before the winter, when bread and gas shortages are certain," the opposition Democratic Alternative party said.

Blood in the Balkans

A brief look at a decade of strife:

June 1991…Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence. Serb forces clash briefly with Slovenian units, then withdraw.

August 1991…Battles break out in Croatia between the Croatian army and Serb militias, and later the Serbian army.

January 1992…Macedonia declares independence.

March 1992…Bosnia declares independence and a 44-month civil war begins involving Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serb forces backed by Milosevic. During the war, Serbs attack United Nations safe havens. The war kills 200,000 people.

May 1984…NATO launches air strikes against Serbs. Serbs take U.N. peacekeepers hostage.

August-September 1995…NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force involving air strikes and artillery attacks on Serb positions.

Nov. 1995 Dayton peace accords end civil war. Thousand of U.S. troops head to the region to enforce the accords. According to the Department of Defense, 26,000 military personnel are now stationed in the former Republic of Yugoslavia and Hungary in support of operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

March 1998…Conflict between Kosovar Albanian militia and Serbian troops breaks out in the province of Kosovo.

March 24-June 9 1999…NATO carries out air strikes on Serbia and Kosovo to stop alleged Serb aggression against Kosovar Albanians.

(Source: DoD, Information Please)size>

Opinion polls show Milosevic's popularity has dwindled since last year's NATO bombing of the country, which forced Yugoslav troops out of Kosovo province and triggered an overall economic and social decline.

Polls also show that only the joint opposition bloc and its single candidate for the presidency could defeat Milosevic.

The opposition parties hope to win the vote by creating a coalition that would back one parliamentary candidate in each district and name one contender for the presidency.

But without Vuk Draskovic's leading Serbian Renewal Movement, the bloc will be weaker. The party has said it will not participate in the elections, and if it does, it would support Draskovic, who stands little chance against Milosevic.

"Without Montenegro, there are no federal elections," a Serbian Renewal Movement statement said. "The vote would only break up Yugoslavia."

The opposition Democratic Alternative warned of unfair election conditions because of the state monopoly over the media, the opposition's inability to control the vote and the lack of international monitoring of the balloting.

"We are in a situation unparalleled even in the most primitive societies and the regime will resort to the business of rigging in the process ahead," a party statement said.

Montenegro said it will boycott any ballot called by Milosevic. Its pro-Western officials have also said they would organize an independence referendum if he tries to force the elections on their territory.

Montenegrin Prime Minister Filip Vujanovic said: "Taking part in the elections would only maintain and strengthen Milosevic's rule."

Montenegro has only 600,000 people, compared to Serbia's 10 million. A direct election of the president and the legislators cuts its influence in the federation, concentrating power in Milosevic's hands.

Montenegro's pro-Western leadership has slowly been concentrating power in the republic, in what is known as "creeping independence." The only remaining federal institution in the republic is the Yugoslav army.

Still, the reformist leadership has refrained from full independence. Montenegrins are deeply divided into pro-Serb and pro-independence camps and the idea appears to lack support from the United States and other nations, which fer a new Balkan war.

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC