Signed and Registered

The challenger of the ruling party in Serbia, the coalition "Zajedno" has managed to cure itself of summer fever and, if the grasshoppers don't devour it, as was the case with Depos 1 (1992) and Depos 2 (1993) it could represent an opponent who would amount to more than just a sparring partner. The coalition "Zajedno" - in accordance with the agreement of Monday night (September 2, 1996) is formally relieved of all conflicts, it shall maintain a joint campaign and in the pre-election and post-election period it shall refrain from forming a coalition with other parties be they ruling or opposition ones.

The coalition has remained open for the entry of DSS which, judging by the statements of Vojislav Kostunica, president of DSS, now announces that it shall stand alone on the elections. Last week he entreated DS for the last time, as a party with which DSS has certain program similarities to, since those parties have no conflicts, start negotiations concerning the coalition in which they would form a certain kind of national-democratic axis, around which parties of a similar orientation would eventually gather. However, the main board of DS in Vrnjacka Banja adopted the decision to sign the agreement with the "Zajedno" coalition without any conditions.

Slobodan Milosevic has apparently estimated that the national option, which Seselj and, in his salon fashion, Kostunica represent, doesn't endanger the survival of the establishment in power and in the midst of the campaign comes to a spectacular agreement with Rugova on the normalization of the educational system in Kosovo, which up to now stands as the strongest election move.

The Socialist Party (SPS) has kicked off a campaign in which development is constantly mentioned and, as usual, the pre-election opening up of building sites which are to mask the fact that what was built long ago is undergoing dilapidation. Gorica Gajevic, the general secretary, has been appointed president of SPS election headquarters.

The Socialists still haven't publicly defined their coalition relations with the left, with the Yugoslav United Left (JUL), whose promotion it is still helping. News has come from Nis that local SPS has "established cooperation" with JUL and that SPS has estimated (the president of the committee for cooperation of the city SPS with other parties, Vlada Arandjelovic) that "JUL doesn't represent a threat to SPS"and that "if we understand the Yugoslav left well, cooperation with them can only contribute". Even though many of them don't understand why they are pushing JUL on their expense, it is clear why they are silent on this point.

"Zajedno" agrees that the replacement of this government is the condition for Serbia's progress, while the ruling party believes that it is in the interest of Serbian citizens to let the left rule over them even in the next century. The coalition "Zajedno" therefore bears a responsibility which surpasses its previous power (if results were to be repeated, say from the republic elections of 1993 with the electoral system of 29 units in Serbia the results of Socialist - "Zajedno" could be 63:32; Ivan Kovacevic, SPO's spokesman, however, predicts that "Zajedno", by winning the majority of votes in central Serbia, will make up for the advantage of 15:0 which the Socialists have in Kosovo due to Rugova's abstinence and that in local elections they shall come to power in all major cities and in a large number of municipalities).

The coalition "Zajedno" must keep in mind all that they had looked for in meetings all over Serbia from March until August and to look into what the Socialists had promised. In the coalition agreement "Zajedno", the starting point is that the intolerable situation in Serbia and Montenegro must change, due to the utter lack of democratic institutions and political responsibility and laws which aren't observed. If they can't beat a stronger opponent who has a huge advantage due to their control of the media, funds and power, they most certainly can seriously influence the party in power to act in a more responsible way. For such a thing more than an agreement on the division of mandates is necessary, it is necessary that they themselves become more serious and to decide upon and prepare themselves for carefully prepared activities in the parliament.

From Wednesday to Wednesday

Election Arena

DEMOCRATIC PARTY accuses (August 28) the Minister of Education, Dragoslav Mladenovic for cynism and humiliation of the educational employees and puts the procedure for his dismissal into motion. He accuses (29) the government of Serbia for the "catastrophic" state in the medical institutions. Djindjic wrote (3) a letter of support to the workers of the "Fixed purpose" plant in Kragujevac.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SERBIA, Vojislav Kostunica (28) does not wish to comment on the conflicts in the coalition "Zajedno"; in Kursumlija DSS is to stand on the elections in coalition with SPO, DS and SRS regardless of the decision of the center. He calls (29) DS for negotiations on the coalition. The city board in Kragujevac refuses to accept the decision of the head board not to join the coalition. The signing of the coalition "Zajedno" automatically activated the decision of DSS to stand independantly on the elections (3).

DEMOCRATIC CENTER, negotiates (28) on forming a coalition with a number of parties in Serbia as announced by the president of DC.

CIVIL ALLIANCE OF SERBIA, supports (3) the requests of the workers from Kragujevac.

YUGOSLAV DEMOCRATIC PARTY, (29) is going to stand on the elections.

JUL, is standing on the elections alone in the Pcinj district.

COALITION "ZAJEDNO", (28) the opposition in Becej demands that the leaders come to an agreement. The spokesman of Nis's SPO claims (29) that in the local elections it will stand together with DS "regardless of what happens". Djindjic and Pesic suggest (30) that Draskovic and Kostunica unite; SPO is prepared to sign the Agreement instantly. The city board (GO) of DS suggested (1) that the agreement be signed without further demands"; in Pirot a joint list is made up of SPO, DS and GSS. SPO, GSS and DS signed the coalition agreement. Djindjic in Valjevo (3) offered half of its mandate to DSS if they join the coalition.

COALITION OF NATIONAL ACCORD, the Social-democratic Party of Montenegro and the Muslim Democratic Party (28) joined the coalition. They accuse (29) the top officials of DPS that they had dropped their intention of buying airplanes for "Montenegro Airlines" because they couldn't come to an agreement on how to divide the commission. They call upon (3) other parties to join the coalition until October 15.

NEW DEMOCRACY, (28) signed an agreement of cooperation with the Peasant Party of Serbia.

REFORM DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VOJVODINA, in the Severnobacka district (28) more than 20.000 citizens signed a petition for abolishing tax for going out of Yugoslavia.

COALITION OF HUNGARIANS OF VOJVODINA, doesn't accept (28) the reccomendation of the European Council to give up the concept of an autonomy. Kasa (1) calls upon Agoston once again to "immediately and without any conditions" commence negotiations on cooperation and joint stand.

LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS MOVEMENT FOR YUGOSLAVIA OF MONTENEGRO, (1) announces a united list of all communist parties of the republic.

SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF MONTENEGRO, founded (30) a humanitarian fund for children, president of the Fund is the head of the election headquarters Cano Koprivica.

SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF MONTENEGRO, the new leadership has accused (30) the former president Vidak Vujacic for appropriating 253.000 Dinars which were put aside for the election campaign, while Vujacic claims that he has spent three times as much of his personal funds for the campaign.

SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA, SPS and JUL in Nis announce (28) the agreement on their joint stand in the local elections. (29) The election slogan of the party shall be - "For Serbia" - announced Slavica Djukic Dejanovic. SPS is going to stand on the elections as decided by the GO (30), Gorica Gajevic has been appointed head of the central election headquarters. The election headquarters for Vojvodina has adopted the operative plan of the campaign.

SERBIAN RADICAL PARTY, Vojislav Seselj in Podgorica (30) announced that his SRS in Montenegro shall stand on the elections independantly. Tomislav Nikolic wrote (3) a letter of support to the workers of the "Fixed purpose" plant in Kragujevac.

SERBIAN RENEWAL PARTY, the MP Milorad Savicevic suggested (2) to the Yugoslav parliament that parliamentary parties should be financed from the federal budget, that they should be freed of tax for performed activities, as well as freed of custom duties for the import of equipment and materials. Draskovic wrote (2) letter of support to the workers of the "Fixed purpose" plant in Kragujevac.

PARTY OF DEMOCRATIC ACTION OF MONTENEGRO, the assembly of SDA (2) has re-elected Harun Hadzic as president and adopted the resolution in which it demands that the status of the citizenship rights of the Muslim-Bosnian people in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia be solved.