Editor’s note: Sunday’s election in Yugoslavia has produced more
questions than answers. Reporting from Yugoslavia for WND, Aleksandar
Pavic presents this post-election overview.
By Aleksandar Pavic
© 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — “Is he finished?” wondered Djordje Balasevic,
a popular balladeer, in front of the 50,000-plus people gathered at
Belgrade’s central Republic Square to celebrate the opposition coalition
victory in the Yugoslav elections.
The reference was to the opposition’s ubiquitous “He’s Finished”
poster that has graced walls throughout Serbia during the election
campaign.
“I hope so, because if he isn’t — we are,” was Balasevic, answering
his own question Monday night.
But perhaps the more immediate question on most people’s minds here
has been not so much, “Is he finished?” but rather, “What will he do
next?”
A partial answer was provided yesterday evening at 7 p.m., with the
Federal Election Commission’s announcement of preliminary results for
the presidential race that widely diverged from the figures given
earlier by opposition campaign headquarters.
Opposition coalition, or DOS, figures given at noon gave presidential
challenger Dr. Vojislav Kostunica a 54.66-35.01 percent lead over
President Slobodan Milosevic on the basis of 97.5 percent of the vote.
This would give Kostunica an outright first-round victory.
On the other hand, albeit unofficially, the commission had the race
at 48.22-40.23 percent — still in favor of Kostunica, but not enough to
forgo a runoff in two weeks.
The opposition’s reactions to the government’s announcement were
almost immediate.
Kostunica absolutely rejected the possibility of a runoff, calling
the commission’s statement “insulting.” In his opinion, the regime was
trying to get the opposition into a bargaining game, designed to buy
time and cause possible splits in the 19-member coalition.
The opposition candidate went to consult with the Patriarch Pavle,
head of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Following their meeting last night,
the Patriarch issued a statement saying he expected the ruling parties
to accept the will of the people and called on all, including the army
and the police, to “defend the interests of the people and the state,
not of any individuals.”
Zoran Djindjic, manager of the DOS campaign and president of the
Democratic Party, said the discrepancy between DOS’s and the state
commission’s figures was 600,000 votes.
“They have taken 400,000 from Kostunica and added 200,000 to
Milosevic. Since the law mandates a three-year prison sentence for
stealing even a single vote, I suppose that for 600,000 stolen votes,
you should get 600 years in hell,” commented Djindjic.
He also rejected the possibility of a runoff, saying the opposition
possessed the signed tabulations from all the local election commissions
and would compare them one by one if necessary with the official
figures. Djindjic also announced the opposition would read the final
election reports this evening in front of the federal parliament
building and called supporters to turn out en masse.
In an informal call-in poll organized last evening by Indeks Radio, a
Belgrade student station, 31 of the first 35 callers rejected any idea
of a runoff and expressed the willingness to defend valid election
results to the end.
And so, the brief respite from the tension that has characterized
life in Belgrade and Yugoslavia for the last 10 years is, at least for
the moment, over.
For just a brief juncture, the air of normalcy could be felt in
Belgrade on Monday morning following election night. Instead of the
typical rush of the new workweek, however, it was more like a Sunday and
a holiday at the same time. There were relatively few people in the
street, and the traffic was light. It was sunny, cool; the air was
fresh. Putting it simply, it was laid back. And that is just the feeling
that has been missing here during the years filled with wars,
demonstrations, hyperinflation and bombings.
Most people had stayed up late — many until five in the morning —
listening to the first election results streaming in through the several
independent media outlets still available, or out in the streets of
central Belgrade, where opposition representatives were announcing the
figures as they came in. Most had finally gone to bed with the news that
the initial results were pointing to a resounding opposition coalition
victory on all levels — presidential, federal parliamentary and local.
So, for just a brief moment, people simply sat back and enjoyed —
sleeping late, being late for work or staying home to telephone friends
and “compare notes” — before allowing reality to seep back in. They
were treating themselves to a sneak preview, because no one was sure
when the premiere would be. One could see smiling faces on the street,
despite a feeling of uncertainty hanging in the air.
Throughout Monday, new returns coming out of the DOS opposition
coalition election headquarters were showing that Kostunica had received
53-57 percent of the vote, as opposed to the 32-35 percent for
Milosevic. The figures for the two houses of the federal parliament were
running near 47 percent for DOS to 34 percent for Milosevic’s leftist
SPS-JUL coalition, while the opposition had achieved convincing
victories on the local level throughout Serbia.
Excluding the Kosovo Albanians, who are still eligible as voters but
have practically ignored these elections, turnout has been massive.
People are simply tired of living in a crisis situation for so long. The
perception is that another Milosevic victory could only bring more
isolation, more sanctions, more outside threats, more hopelessness. And
that is Kostunica’s appeal: In his own words, he is just an ordinary,
average man who cares about his country. The average Serbian voter seems
to have had enough blood, sweat and tears that have not even brought him
the satisfaction of a V-Day.
Many believe Milosevic has become the victim of his own image-making.
Amid the wars that have accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia, the
international sanctions, the deteriorating economy, the Hague Tribunal
indictment and last year’s NATO bombing, the Yugoslav president has
consciously built himself up as the indomitable, all-powerful,
all-knowing and infallible national leader. And, as such, there is no
graceful way for him to step down from power. As the war-crimes
indictment prevents him from thoughts of a secure retirement, so does
this pumped-up image prevent him psychologically from accepting defeat.
Thus, moves such as yesterday’s call for a runoff were expected and will
probably continue.
Milosevic’s dilemma has rubbed off on his party associates and
supporters. They are quite aware of just how much their own political
fortunes are tied to their chief’s untouchable image. So, while the
SPS-JUL coalition conceded local defeat and the federal parliament
results fairly early on Monday, they had given out only partial
presidential race figures based on small samples that favored their
candidate until the state commission’s surprise last night.
So the war of nerves and waiting begins. Upon hearing the news of a
possible runoff, thousands of opposition supporters have entered the
streets of Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Jagodina, Cuprija. In front of a
15,000-strong crowd in Cacak, the opposition mayor, Velimir Ilic, said
there would be no second round: “If they don’t know how to count, we’ll
teach them.”
Yet, Sinisa Nikolic, the DOS delegate to the Federal Election
Commission has cautioned that the commission statement was still
unofficial and that any organized reaction before the official
announcement at 8 p.m. today would be premature.
The Federal Ministry of Information has felt compelled to issue a
warning to foreign journalists to “stop misquoting citizens’ statements
regarding the elections” or be faced with the prospect of having their
accreditations revoked.
One thing is for certain: The genie has been let out of the bottle.
The loss is too convincing and the news of it has been too broadly
disseminated. Even a runoff would present a degradation. The myth of
invincibility has been broken and no amount of ballot-box tampering,
stalling or even attempts at provoking violence or internal instability
can have long-range effect. Milosevic’s aura has been delegitimized and
he likely cannot rally enough army or police support to maintain his
present position. It is up to the wisdom of both the opposition and the
outside world, especially the West, to make the transition as painless
as possible. Just how that transition will look, however, is anyone’s
guess.
Previous story:
Aleksandar Pavic served as chief political adviser to the president of Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina and as an adviser to the late Prince Tomislav Karageorgevitch of Yugoslavia. Pavic is currently translating Prince Tomislav’s memoirs into English.
Don’t miss ‘Reagan’
Jerry Newcombe