Posted on 08/15/2002 2:09:08 PM PDT by bob808
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica will run in Serbia's upcoming presidential elections, splitting up pro-democracy votes and giving a chance to an ulranationalist candidate, a newspaper reported Thursday.
The Blic daily, quoting sources from Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia, said he will announce the widely expected nomination for the Serbian presidency by Aug. 24.
Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, is the frontrunner in pre-election polls for the vote set for Sept. 29. Kostunica's office refused to confirm the Blic report.
The Serbian presidency is expected to gain power and prestige later this year after Yugoslavia is transformed into a new, more decentralized country called Serbia and Montenegro after its two constituent republics.
Other candidates for the Serbian presidency include Miroljub Labus, a popular economist and deputy prime minister, and ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, who is supported by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ( news - web sites), now on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague ( news - web sites), Netherlands.
Kostunica's running in the elections would mark his definitive split with the rest of a pro-democracy bloc that toppled Milosevic in a popular uprising in October 2000.
Labus' candidacy is indirectly supported by the pro-Western faction of the democratic bloc. The split in votes among the pro-democrats in Serbia could give a chance to Seselj — a right-wing neo-nationalist — in the presidential vote.
Seselj, a former leader of dreaded Serb paramilitary forces which fought in the Croatian and Bosnian wars, has declared his "chief objective" was to beat Labus.
Labus, a pro-Western pragmatist, would be favored to win the elections if Kostunica was not running.
Mirjana Markovic, Milosevic's wife and the leader of the small neo-communist Yugoslav Left party, told the Vecernje Novosti newspaper Thursday that "if the (presidential) elections are fair," Seselj, as a joint candidate of the opposition, should reach the second round of voting.
"From my point of view, the joint candidate of the opposition should be Slobodan," Markovic said. "But because of mistakes made someone ... he is not that candidate," she added, referring to the alleged lack of support for Milosevic within his Socialist Party.
Writing from his U.N. prison cell in the Netherlands, Milosevic earlier this week urged Serbs to vote for Seselj in the presidential elections.
With the letter, Milosevic has ruled out running himself in the vote, said Zoran Andjelkovic, a top official of Milosevic's party. The party, which has been distancing itself from Milosevic lately, is likely to field its own presidential candidate.
Labus is a "a pro-Western pragmatist". Didn't they described Djindjic the same way? That's enough reason not to vote for him in my book.
Labus cannot win (bar the election hijacking, which is not at all excluded). Djindjich has some very powerful friends in the underworld who would like to keep their privileges intact. Serbia is sliding towards a similar situation that Russia found herself in under Yeltsin. That is if Labus wins. If Dr. K. wins -- which is almost certain -- there might still be hope for Serbia to become a normal country.
BTW, Labus' election HQ is the ex-HQ of the Beogradska Banka, which he and the Governor of the National Bank 'liquidated' this past February and left some 10,000 people jobless. Now they're using a couple of hundred square metres in that building for their election campaign. They have a 6 million dollar budget. Now we know where at least a part of the foreign aid received so far has gone.
Dr. K. has done more than anyone to keep Yugoslavia together. He's still committed to the work and will be committed to it even after he becomes President of Serbia.
VK did just one thing: he beat Miloshevich in an election that was heavily subsidized, indeed, bought by American money.
Besides, the executive power rests in the office of the prime minister, so regardless who the new president of Serbia is, Djindjich will still call all the shots. In that respect, I can fully understand why VK may be reluctant.
BTW, VK did not keep Yugoslavia together. Yugoslavia lasted this long not because, but in spite of Koshtunitsa. And, Koshtunitsa was a president of a fictitious land called Yugslavia, a pretend country, indeed a sharade, which Neboysha Malich, in his eloquent wisdom, calls the "un-dead." This living corpse has not been a viable country for a long time. Podgoritsa was ignoring Belgrade's decisions with unchecked liberty -- from introducing separate currency to not recognizing the federal government.
The President of Serbia can dissolve the Parliament upon the recommendation of the PM (which is not going to happen) but he can always declare the state of emergency and then dissolve it (which is, by the way, Drashkovich's idea of solving the problem; it is in his election programme).
The DOS is falling apart. Five member-parties have refused to back Labus - their own candidate - who is trying to sell himself as a GG candidate. It's not working.
The US money (some $100M) pumped into the DOS campaign came from the shadow US "embassy" in Hungary. The B92 DOS mouthpieces and Otpor activists didn't even hide the fact that they were getting foreign money (which makes them, technically, foreign agents).
Let's just call it what it is: the elections were bought, period. Miloshevich turned out to be a lot tougher nut to crack than they thought. The DOS "victory" was marginal to say the least. So, it took some outright thuggery to tip the scale. The thugs who came to Belgrade for a "spontaneous" October "revolution" were paid by the Chachak mayor who got the money from where? Let me guess...
Why is Drashkovich not in a mental institution? That man has no bearings. I think (hope) he is politically finished.
So, the president of Serbia can just up and declare a state of emergency in order to dissolve the parliament? I would imagine that some sort of urgency would actually have to exist to do that, or is that too much to expect from the Balkan style democracy?
Somehow I don't think Djindjich is going to sit and wait for Koshtunitsa to take the presidential oath and then declare a state of emergency to get rid of Zoran the Menice. I think he will outdo VK as he has done until now. And VK will wait for someone, especially Zoran, to make a decision for him.
Besides, VK can't make a decision about anything. I doubt he would do something illicit, staged, to unseat his rival.
Nobody needed 100 million dollars to tell the people that their lives were crap. Most of the money ended up in private accounts, anyway.
Miloshevich was no good - he's gone. Djindjich is almost as bad, he'll be gone but in a lot less time.
Your criticism of Koshtunitsa merits no response. It is your personal opinion and I have no intention of changing it.
There are dozens of potential new leaders of the DSS in the party. We just don't employ the sleaze tactics. It might hurt in the short, but we'll win in the long run - as will Serbia.
VK is perfectly capable of confronting Djindjich. You just have to let Djindjich do his thing. He is his worst enemy. His policies will cost him this presidential election and will surely decimate him come the Parliamentary elections.
Djindjich's oligarchy probably won't live to see 2004.
I would like to see Djindjich and his collaborationist gang unseated but I am not so sure that he will be replaced by something much better. VK certainly has the moral fiber that could save Serbia, but he lacks leadership (team-building) talent. Still, given the choices, he is the best Serbia has.
I hated those bastards when they were against Miloshevich because I KNEW they would not do the same in case Djindjich turned out to be just another Miloshevich. And I was right (you were too, I am sure). There are some honourable exceptions but the vast majority of Otporashi are just sleazebags. The best example is Cheda Yovanovich.
Koshtunitsa's future Serbian government is not the end. It is just a step towards a more normal country. Let us hope that Serbia will be a better place with each new government.
Pozdrav
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.