Serbian voters deal crushing blow to Milosevic

BELGRADE - Voters have dealt a crushing blow to Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist party, sweeping it out of the powerful Serbian government, unofficial results showed today.

The reform alliance, which won federal Yugoslav polls in September and forced Milosevic from the presidency with a mass uprising the next month, completed the rout in Saturday's elections to the Serbian parliament, winning around 64 per cent of the vote.

Milosevic's Socialists, direct successors to the communists who ruled Yugoslavia for 45 years, trailed in a distant second with about 13 per cent, according to figures compiled by the Belgrade-based Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID).

"This a great day for Serbia and something generations have been waiting for. We congratulate all citizens for what they've done," said Cedomir Jovanovic, spokesman for the reformers.

The result had been generally expected. But it was a massive defeat for a party which has dominated Serbian politics during a decade of Balkan wars, isolation and corruption and was running both the Serbian and Yugoslav governments just a few months ago.

It confirmed the success of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) alliance whose candidate Vojislav Kostunica defeated Milosevic in September's Yugoslav presidential poll.

Unofficial results released by political parties painted a broadly similar picture of a DOS landslide. CESID predicted the DOS would have 177 members of the 250-seat parliament.

The results also underscored the continuing appeal of Serbian nationalism, with a party founded by slain warlord Arkan given a real chance of being represented in the assembly.

The new DOS government, to be led by prominent anti-Milosevic politician Zoran Djindjic, has pledged to crack down on crime, reintegrate Serbia with Europe and establish a modern market economy.

DOS leaders popped open bottles of champagne today to celebrate their victory.

But the disparate alliance faces a major test of will to stay together. It also faces heavy foreign pressure to examine Serbia's role in Balkan conflicts and hand Milosevic over to a U.N. tribunal which has indicted him for Kosovo war crimes.

The new administration also has the challenges of trying to keep its estranged smaller partner Montenegro inside Yugoslavia, addressing the status of Kosovo and tackling ethnic Albanian guerrillas operating in a buffer zone next to the province.

Winning the election, however, gave the reformers real power that they had largely lacked after their victories at the weaker federal-government level earlier in the year.

Serbia's government is the key power center in Yugoslavia, responsible for an 85,000-strong police force feared under Milosevic and for major economic, financial and social policy.

Organizers took new measures on Saturday to try to stamp out the fraud frequently associated with elections while Milosevic was Serbian and later Yugoslav president.

Officials used an invisible security spray on voters' hands, obliged people to sign a register after they had cast their votes, and deployed transparent ballot boxes.

Final official results could take until Wednesday. But researchers at the respected CESID institute said their figures would be extremely close to the real tally.

CESID said the ultra-nationalist Radical Party had suffered big losses but had still won between eight and nine percent of the vote, while Arkan's Serbian Unity Party was between 5.3 and 5.9 percent, above the five percent needed to enter parliament.

Monitors said turnout was lower than anticipated at 58.7 per cent of around 6.5 million eligible voters.

It was also much lower than the 70-plus percent in September's historic election. Analysts had predicted a weaker turnout this time as the DOS was widely expected to win easily.

Power cuts, indicative of the sorry state in which Serbia now finds itself, may have deterred voters in some regions.

"Some polling stations are in the dark, without candles," Marko Blagojevic, the head of CESID, told reporters.

He said there had been fewer irregularities - insignificant in numbers and nature - than in September.

Kostunica and his autocratic predecessor voted in separate parts of Belgrade.

"This is only a continuation of the work that started in September," said Kostunica, who has acted quickly to end Yugoslavia's international isolation since he came to power.

A relaxed-looking Milosevic made no comment to waiting reporters when he voted with his wife Mirjana Markovic in the exclusive Dedinje suburb where the couple live, only saying he wished citizens a happy new year.

His Socialist Party of Serbia, typically defiant, spoke of a sort of victory in managing to avoid complete annihilation.

"Those who wanted to remove the SPS from the political map have been proven wrong because the SPS will have around 20 mandates," party general secretary Zoran Andjelkovic said.

In Kosovo, a province in U.N. hands since 1999 when NATO bombing drove out Yugoslav forces, the election passed off peacefully although some polling stations did not open and turnout among remaining Serbs there was low.

In the village of Gracanica, near the regional capital Pristina, the few people who came to vote on a freezing day said their action was a symbolic gesture to underline that the U.N.-run province was still part of Serbia.

"I feel good after voting. This means further unification with our motherland," voter Ljubisa Krstic said.

The move to allow Serbs to vote enraged members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who want independence for the formerly Serbian-dominated region and fought Belgrade for it in 1998-99.

In southern Serbia, where police have been attacked by ethnic Albanian rebels near Kosovo's boundary, local Albanian parties did not take part, saying they would not be able to get the five per cent of the vote they need to win parliament seats.

The DOS had warned the rebels could mount fresh attacks around election time but polling day was quiet in the area.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Revolution in Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Serbian Ministry of Information

Serbian Radio - Free B92

Otpor: Serbian Student Resistance Movement