Political Bread

The election campaign was overshadowed by two events in Serbia last week - the Bosnian elections and the interrogation of the witnesses (September 16) in the trial against Zoran Djindjic, the president of the Democratic Party (DS) who has been charged with slander and exposing the Prime Minister of the Serbian government to ridicule. As of December last year, Djindjic has not let the matter of the so-called wheat affair out of his hands by which he is trying to prove that Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic's Serbian government, as a directorial one, has been discredited due to a conflict of interests since the ministers-directors are in a position to give preferential treatment to their (public or private) companies. Formally, all ministers have "frozen" their directorship functions, while minister Radulovic went so far as to "freeze" his membership in the Democratic Party, as well as the MP seat which he had received through it. Essentially, in Serbia which is being governed as a single company and where the boundaries between government functions and public companies have not been set, where everyone who is in a position to run to the government for funds does so, the public doesn't much care for Western bans on politicians showing preferential treatment towards business enterprises.

Djindjic looked upon the trial as a political chance, and gave up his MP immunity status in order to transfer the parliamentary debate to a courtroom. He announced that DS would continue to publish "evidence on the machinations of the ministers in the government of Serbia" in leaflets which he would distribute all over the country.

Prior to the September continuation of the trial, he published on a black flyer an enlarged fax document with a seal, filed under the highly confidential number 199/95. It states that the government of the Republic of Serbia on its session held on December 7, 1995, amongst other things, has concluded that the company Progres was to export one million tons of wheat, partly for foreign currency funds, and partly as a compensational transaction for the import of oil and eventually mineral fertilizers. The day before the trial continued (15), DS activists distributed a special issue of Demokratija wholly dedicated to the "wheat affair".

Last week Djindjic stated in front of a few thousand supporters in Kikinda: "In Serbia all things take place amidst the red triangle of criminal activities - the government, the company of the minister, the Directorate of Commodity Reserves. In three steps the work, sweat and toils of a million people disappear and are transformed into foreign currency funds which end up in private bank accounts in Cyprus."

Nothing can stop this trial from being put into a political frame, and it looks as though Djindjic has, in the wheat affair, outwitted his opponents shouting "Where's our bread!" The government, which at this moment is trying to calm the rebel workers from Kragujevac and to fulfill at least one promise on putting the production capacities into motion, will not look upon such incitement of discontent graciously.

The trial, inconveniently for the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), corresponds with the very beginning of the campaign. Branislav Ivkovic, president of the Belgrade socialists, claims that they will not organize a special campaign, but shall rather consider their already existing activities as their campaign. The Yugoslav United Left (JUL) has published its program in Politika daily. New Democracy is announcing its stand on the elections on all levels. All is running in a routine fashion. The Bosnian defeat of the Union of Peace and Progress and the eventual outbreak of social discontent shall most probably push this group into an even firmer embrace.

In that context, it can be of great help to the ruling party that the public is still wasting its time by taking notice of the relations amongst the opposition engrossed in pre-election calculations.

The agreement of the Serbian Renewal Party (SPO), DS and the Civil Alliance (GSS) on joining up forces in the coalition "Zajedno" contains the obligation (article 6) of these parties that they will not form any alliances with the ruling party (meaning SPS) nor their satellites (New Democracy - ND) neither in the campaign nor post-campaign period individually, nor with opposition parties which do not appear as signatories of the coalition agreement (having the Democratic Party of Serbia DSS in mind). Yet it also foresees (article 9) that "even if DSS does not accept this 'Zajedno' coalition agreement on the federal level, the coalition 'Zajedno' shall, on the municipal, town and province elections, since those elections are to be held in accordance with the majority knockout system, be open for joint lists with DSS and other opposition parliamentary parties."

On the basis of that, the democrats have started making pacts with municipal DSS boards. However, since the dispute between DSS and SPO has continued, the president of this party has ordered its boards not to join up with the "Serbian Renewal Party haters", and to put eminent DSS people on their lists only if they become SPO members. In the announcement from September 15, DS claims that by such an act "the signed agreement is doubly

violated" and that the "municipal boards of that party shall keep all of the previously made agreements on local coalitions with all opposition parties, including DSS". SPO sent word that, in case conflicts on the local level persist, they shall hand in individual lists on the federal level. If all local lists aren't coordinated by September 22, the presidency of the three coalition parties have to reach an agreement in the next seven days. Which means that they shall carry on their skirmishes throughout September and that those skirmishes shall undermine their credibility.