Serbians finish off Milosevic in election

BELGRADE - Reformers who toppled Slobodan Milosevic from the Yugoslav presidency are preparing to sweep away the remnants of his rule after thrashing his Socialists in Serbia's parliamentary election.

In polls hailed by international observers as free and fair, in contrast to manipulated elections under Milosevic, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia alliance backing new president Vojislav Kostunica won 65.4 per cent of the vote.

Milosevic's long-mighty Socialists were a distant second in Sunday's election with 13.4 per cent, according to official results from just over half of polling stations released by the central Electoral Commission.

The reformers vowed that the new government, Serbia's first for more than 50 years not led by Socialists or communists, would start work as quickly as possible on reviving a country laid low by a decade of Balkan wars and corruption.

Prime Minister-designate Zoran Djindjic said he aimed to form his cabinet by January 10, three days after the Orthodox celebration of Christmas.

"This is going to be the first government that will not be dealing with itself but with the interests of the citizens," he told reporters.

A DOS-Socialist caretaker government was formed in Serbia after a popular uprising ousted Milosevic as federal president in October. But his allies clung to key posts in the bureaucracy, economic management and security services. That will now change.

Western governments welcomed the results, although they will be dismayed by the success of a party founded by late Serbian warlord Arkan. Latest figures put it on course to take more than five percent of the vote and enter parliament.

The result gives the reformers control of the most powerful institution in Yugoslavia, the Serbian government. Only Serbia and much smaller Montenegro remain in the Yugoslav federation.

Sunday's vote also finally puts Serbia on the path towards Western democracy and market economics chosen by other eastern European states after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

"The Serbian people's decision on December 23 is a final rejection of the Milosevic era," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in a statement. "(Yugoslavia) is now firmly on the road to integration into the European mainstream."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's foreign policy adviser described the result as a "Christmas present" for Europe.

The election commission said the returns so far would give the DOS 178 deputies in the 250-seat parliament, with the Socialists winning just 36 seats.

The Socialists had 110 seats in the outgoing parliament in alliance with the Yugoslav Left (JUL) party of Milosevic's wife Mirjana Markovic. JUL ran on its own this time and won just 0.37 per cent of the vote, according to results so far.

The ultra-nationalist Radicals should hold about 22 seats and, in a surprise showing, may be joined by 14 followers of Arkan, whose paramilitaries sowed terror in Croatia and Bosnia and who was gunned down in a Belgrade hotel early this year.

A member of the Radicals chairing a local body monitoring the elections said the polls were irregular and should be repeated because media had been biased in favour of the DOS.

But monitors from the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe declared the vote to be largely in line with accepted international standards for democratic elections.

"In a significant improvement over past elections, polling was conducted in a generally calm atmosphere and remarkably in accordance with the law and regulations," said Adrian Severin, head of the OSCE's observer mission.

"These elections mark the end of a sad and damaging period in Serbian history and an important step forward in transition to democracy..., to authority based on popular confidence in institutions and not on repression and fear," Severin said.

The reformers defeated Milosevic and his party in federal elections in September and mounted a mass uprising the following month that forced the authoritarian leader to admit defeat. But the formal powers at federal level are fairly limited.

The powers of the Serbian government include responsibility for an 85,000-strong police force, a cornerstone of Milosevic's power, and for major economic, financial and social policy.

But with the power come formidable challenges, from rooting out systemic corruption and stemming economic decline to keeping Yugoslavia together amid secession moves by Montenegro.

DOS must also deal with guerrillas in ethnic Albanian parts of Serbia, the future of the lost province of Kosovo, Western demands for Milosevic to stand trial for war crimes, and rivalries within its own ranks which could break it apart.

- 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