Together Against Marjanovic

Last December Democratic Party President Zoran Djindjic, accused of having insulted the Serbian Prime Minister, believed that the Socialists would schedule elections right after Dayton and started saying that 1996 would be the year of decision. He focused his campaign on proving that Mirko Marjanovic's government of directors was stuck in the so-called conflict of interests which began when ministers-directors reigned in such a way as to protect their (socially or privately owned) companies. In democratic countries, this kind of protection is forbidden, or at least politically undesirable. In the local circumstances, where the public is not so sensitive to violation of political conduct and legitimacy, the opposition does not very skillfully control the government. Djindjic's Democrats were, therefore, innovators, when they insisted on the affair of wheat export through the company whose director is the Serbian prime minister. The topic is a politically important one because it touches: (1) the issues of the so-called social minimum, nutrition of the population, and the socialists declare themselves as "Leftists", i.e. as a group that takes care of the poor, and we are speaking about bread here; (2) the position of farmers, to which the socialists must be very sensitive because the farmers are potential voters for the socialists and there are always problems with paying for the crop; (3) the zone of "grey business" widespread during international sanctions; (4) there is a tension within the regime as to who is going to accuse whom of not having brought back to the country the 800 million dollars (estimate by the London "Economist") transferred abroad via "sister-companies" in order to break through the sanctions.

Djindjic should have known that he would be attacked by all the weapons. The Democratic Party (DS) MP group on 21 February requested that the Serbian Parliament form an inquiry committee which would investigate the deals of public companies and the Reserves Bureau with the companies headed by Serbian ministers. In spite of the fact that inquiry committees did not prove to be an efficient means in our parliaments (a proof of this is the Dafiment affair), the socialists who had had no opposition in the parliamentary debates for seven months feared for their rating and arrogantly rejected the request. Someone decided that the government should take Djindjic to court because of the DS advertisement in the Belgrade weekly "Telegraf." The advertisement consisted of Zoran Djindjic's open letter to Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic in which Djindjic claimed that Marjanovic had profited from the wheat export via "Progres" company. Djindjic gave up his MP immunity and decided to go in for a court showdown with the government. He said the Democratic Party would continue publishing and distributing throughout the country leaflets with "proof about underhand dealings of Serbian ministers."

The moment investigation began (4 April), Djindjic started turning the case into the one in which someone would win the elections and someone else would lose freedom: "The essence of this government is a monopoly and abuse, and that is what they want to cover up by this process."

The Democrats on 16 April demanded that the Djindjic case be transferred to a court in Montenegro. They explained that "the independence of courts is not such that it could convince us that they are impartial, especially when one of the parties is Serbia's Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic." However, this attempt failed.

Djindjic said that he would propose that one of the witnesses be National Bank of Yugoslavia Governor Dragoslav Avramovic who "will have something to say about the business of the Reserves Bureau." When Djindjic's trial began, Avramovic was no longer the governor, despite the opposition's attempt to defend him in the Parliament. Opposition parties were solidary with Djindjic, which was easier to do than to unify them. At the beginning of the year, leaders of five opposition parties in Serbia said they intended to form a joint election list at all levels in the forthcoming elections, but these ideas never were realistic. Djindjic insisted that only if the opposition were together in the elections, they could hope to reach the aim, even when it became quite clear that nothing would come out of the so-called Democratic Alliance (DA). Last week at the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) assembly, he again invited Kostunica to join the coalition "Together" which consists of Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), DS and Civil Alliance of Serbia (GSS). His flirting with Kostunica, and for a time even with Seselj, did not shake up coalition "Together," although the opposition's dream about a joint list seems like a fantasy and although Seselj is actively trying to break up the coalition.

Djindjic declared himself against "flirting with socialists" and kept repeating that he was willing to go together with Vuk and Seselj and that, if there was any chance to win, he would forget about everything.

The Socialists, obviously aware of the fact that opposition coalitions are difficult to form and when they eventually do, they disintegrate after a short time, twice this year (January and June) launched rumors that elections would be held soon. They certainly have information on the public opinion - they know that the opposition does not rate very high (major parties 6-8 per cent, public opinion is against Kostunica who is disappearing, like most minor opposition parties), that their propaganda has raised JUL up to about 5 per cent of the electorate. They may worry because of possible high abstinence but are still arranging the scene so as to "fence the policy" and believe that, being the ruling party, they would most successfully swim across the "dead sea." They know that the voters are tired of listening to how the opposition would unite and are quietly waiting for December.

In the campaign, the length of which will be difficult to bear, Djindjic did not give up national voters; he had on his agenda the Bosnian Serb Republic, the Democrats kept repeating that the situation there was disastrous, that people in the Banja Luka region slept under improvised tents.

The Democratic Party assessed that the letter by the three presidents from F.R. Yugoslavia in which they had demanded that the Bosnian Serb Parliament name the acting president was "the washing of hands in front of the international public and continuation of the old practice of blackmails, without real support to the people of the Bosnian Serb Republic." But Djindjic again said that "this is a decisive moment in which something must be sacrificed in order to form conditions for a normal future life of the citizens of the Bosnian Serb Republic," i.e. that "the Bosnian Serb Republic should sacrifice part of its autonomy" and "ask President Radovan Karadzic to withdraw from public political life." He, however, must know that the Bosnian story is no longer so decisive for the Serbian voters.

Trying to stand with one foot on the other side of the Drina, Djindjic this year started applying for the European visa. At home he kept saying that the "change of government is a condition for Serbia and Montenegro's return to the international community and for the state's recovery." These may not be bad moves for one who wants to create the atmosphere which would bring the country closer to Europe.

Djindjic very negatively assessed the opening of the U.S. office in Pristina as "direct interference of a foreign power in the internal issues of Serbia and Yugoslavia." In Pristina, on 29 March, he assessed that unless the Serbian government changed one should not expect the Kosovo issue to be resolved. "Unless the regime in Serbia is transformed, chaos and destruction are ahead of us," Djindjic said in an interview to the Albanian-language Pristina weekly "Zeri", and stressed that one should not expect the Kosovo issue to be resolved unless the government changes.

The so-called election campaign and the activities of coalition "Together" were marked by 9 March. A week before 9 March, DS, SPO and GSS leaders confirmed that they were forming a coalition which advocated radical social changes and democratization of Serbia.

Although Seselj kept saying that "Draskovic and Djindjic will soon have a fight" and that "possibilities for radicals' cooperation with two democratic parties will open up," coalition "Together" held rallies in Nis, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Uzice and Leskovac.

In Uzice, on 18 May, Djindjic said that two roads were ahead of Serbia - "one that leads to isolation, chaos and poverty and the other that leads to Europe." Adapting himself to coalition "Together", Djindjic introduced pro-European elements in his policy, kept crumbs of his national policy, made coalitions, lost part of his party, made various turns, took, left, swindled. The only topic he never dropped was the wheat affair. As we have seen, this affair sheds light on the character of the regime, the way of its functioning, the opposition's ways of controlling the government, independence of the judiciary... Is it too early to say that due to all these circumstances an important round of future elections is currently taking place in a Belgrade courtroom. It would have been better if the round took place in the Parliament, but this is Serbia and in Serbia the courtroom is an important institution.