Riots in Serbia

Some time after midnight, while a huge number of scotch and champagne bottles were being popped open in the headquarters of the opposition parties in honor of the surprisingly good news from most of the larger cities in Serbia, and while those who wished to celebrate victory at the local elections were gathering on the streets of Belgrade, one of the present colleagues commented what he himself was witnessing with a large dose of skepticism: "Let's hope that by tomorrow morning this victory holds and that the opposition retains power in at least ten of all 40 municipalities for which they claim they have already won in. Let's hope it's not a question of while 'these' are celebrating, 'those others' aren't 'guarding' the election boxes. And counting again".

Tomorrow, on Monday morning, victory however seemed larger than ever. Ivica Dacic whose job description, among other things includes to, in the nights following elections, beat the opposition with a rod, quickly stopped counting the results and closed shop. It was immediately apparent that this time the "rod" has broken. Using a voice usually reserved for condolences, state media "celebrated" the "spectacular success" of the left forces in Cicevac and Aleksandrovac (where, in utter rapture, citizens were carrying roasted piglets on the streets), and, naturally, failed to mention that almost everything that barely resembles a town in Serbia (more than two decent pubs and two public lavatories), has passed into the hands of the opposition. Which is how beneath the honest fact that the Socialists hold power in 144 out of the 189 municipalities in Serbia, a far greater truth lay hidden - that in the future, the opposition would control municipalities with around 60 percent of the citizens of Serbia. In other words, the economic and intellectual spine of Serbia - Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac. The left coalition won mostly in small towns and villages of ten thousand inhabitants with one or at most two factories. At the places where threats of "being late for the 21 century", the disappearance of the sun, water, air, or local factories in case the opposition wins, echo far more seriously than in larger cities.

However, by Monday night it turns out that the experienced colleague seems to have been right. The victory of the opposition in the larger cities of Serbia all of a sudden started to "shrink" drastically. Election committees started massively annulling the results in many cities where the opposition had already celebrated it's victory which serves as prediction that the Socialists shall not give up power just like that. Besides that, the formulation which was used in most cases, and which until now has been unheard of in the democratic world, was that "all election stations are still being reviewed". Even after the expiration of the time-limit for announcing the election results as ascertained by law. As for what cases were being "reviewed" is best illustrated by data from Jagodina. A member of the city election committee from the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) ranks has decided to withdraw since he could no longer bear to watch how his colleagues from the "left coalition" were changing the will of the voters. Still, the mere fact that for the first time since 1990 those who have made the regulations are now filing complaints on the election results and irregular conditions clearly shows in which direction things are headed.

In most of the opposition cities a rather large number of embittered voters have gathered in the streets, along with special police forces, which for now still remain somewhat in the minority. Many of the opposition representatives whose election victory has been disputed (mostly during the night) have commenced a hunger strike. Amongst them is most probably the representative candidate from Uzice who has, on the day of the elections, brought pastry to a member of the electoral committee, so that now SPS, on account of that pastry, demands that the elections be annulled at this election station. At the moment when this issue of VREME is being concluded (Wednesday evening), it is difficult to predict where the bitterness of those who have in the last few years heard a number of times how the "will of the nation" must be respected shall be directed. The leader of the Democratic Party, Dr. Zoran Djindjic, interprets all of this as a "metastasis of the government", an underestimation of the citizens and, most dangerous of all, an "open call for rebellion". Shortly after that, on a Democratic Party (DS) press conference, it was assessed that Serbia was approaching a "state of emergency" situation. The leader of the Serbian Renewal Party (SPO), Vuk Draskovic, has on a couple of occasions in the last few days mentioned a "March 9 rerun". On Wednesday, as the opposition victory in the larger cities started to thin out and become annulled, foreign embassies were informed of the occurrences. The leaders of the coalition Zajedno announced "large demonstrations in Belgrade due to the election theft". To the newly elected representatives in Nis, Jagodina, Pirot, Pancevo, Uzice, Kraljevo, Smederevska Palanka... the following message was sent - do not hesitate and don't be scared, enter your municipalities, establish a new government and defend it.

The post-election game of endurance is most obvious in Nis. There the golden rule of all non-democratic regimes was applied literally overnight - "it isn't that important how one votes, but rather how it is counted". Between the two election rounds, the local SPS leader Mile Ilic, by way of a strange "alchemic" exercise and following a number of counts and annulments of the coalition Zajedno representative seats, has managed to turn the situation from a lost election to a new election victory. Nis where over 300 members of the special police force are guarding the City Hall building, was also the place of the first noted post-election incident - in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, the bakery shop Bata Bane was demolished. Otherwise, this is not a usual bakery but rather an object of strategic worth in Nis. The bakery owner is vice-president of the city government, Branislav Todorovic, one of the most unpopular individuals in town with whose name the local opposition connects many dubious activities. During the June workers protests in Nis, the bakery Bata Bane was one of the best guarded objects in town. However, this time the attention of the special police forces seems to have somewhat slackened, although Nis opposition members fear a "red herring" intended to provoke a larger conflict as well as to turn attention from the alchemist Mile Ilic towards the allegedly unlawful conduct of the opposition.

At first glance, Kragujevac was the place where "alchemy" was least insisted upon and where the mayor from the SPS rank was the first to admit defeat and to even summon up enough courage to mutter something which could resemble congratulations to the winners. In Novi Sad the legal time-limit for announcing the results was disregarded however at the end the more than convincing victory of the coalition Zajedno was admitted (six times more representative seats than SPS). Following that, defeat was admitted in Belgrade which cannot be mollified even by the fact that voting was annulled in ten electoral units. The Coalition Zajedno already has 60 verified representative seats in the City Hall, and to form city government 56 were needed. The defeat in Belgrade was definitely one of the worst things that could have happened to the socialists and something few believed in. After 50 years Belgrade shall for the first time have an opposition mayor and if in the next few days relations in the coalition Zajedno remain good, MA. Nebojsa Covic should shortly be replaced by Dr. Zoran Djindjic. Also for the first time the opposition shall, beside the central city municipalities, control a large part of the suburbs as well. From 16 Belgrade municipalities, the coalition Zajedno shall hold power in 11, while Seselj's radicals achieved a superior victory in Zemun.

Indirect proof that a transfer of power in Belgrade really could occur is also apparent by the atmosphere which is currently reigning in City Hall and which by all aspects resembles the atmosphere which presides over wakes. Nebojsa Covic has, as those who have tried to reach him claim, turned off his mobile phone these days and is not taking messages from his pager. After the election results were announced, Covic appeared in public only once at a celebration of the City Planning Institute. He turned up towards the end of the cocktail party and, answering the question of "what happened", explained how even things like that occur, how the opposition has made better moves towards the finish of the campaign and - won the game. Those who had listened to Covic's explanation claim that he had stated the above through clenched teeth. He was probably the last person who believed it possible to lose the elections in Belgrade. After the President of Serbia's warning which was uttered several times that "Belgrade must not fall", he answered with claims that there was no way that could happen and that all was under control. In the night in which Milosevic called all SPS top ranking officials for coordination following the loss of the largest cities in Serbia, Nebojsa Covic was amongst those whose hands were slapped harder than others. Both he and the leader of Belgrade's Socialists Branislav Ivkovic were reprimanded for deceiving themselves, for promising what they could not deliver, and even formulations of "party peacocks" could be heard whose "wings have been clipped" on these elections for "excessive flaunting". JUL still hasn't (at least publicly) analysed it's catastrophic performance at the local elections, especially in Belgrade. The president of the Belgrade JUL organization is the only one who has continued to deceive himself. He claims that "JUL has performed best at the elections". Cerovic who did not become a City Hall representative (he was beaten in the second round by the DS spokesman Slobodan Vuksanovic), is behind the following statement: "I don't know why our electoral body has fallen short. That I have lost is also illogical, for I got more votes than in the first round".

Even during that first night, while victory was being celebrated on the streets of Belgrade, and half the city (mostly those who cannot hear Radio B-92) believed that "our basketball players have once again achieved a victory somewhere", the leaders of the coalition Zajedno were, in front of the Knez Mihajlo monument, promising that there would be no revenge. Vuk Draskovic swore that no ideological unity would be allowed and that intelligence and honesty have no party colors. Zoran Djindjic stated somewhat similar beliefs when asked if he would, in case he was to become the mayor of Belgrade, fire people from top utility services positions. "It doesn't necessarily have to mean that we will position our people. Our people are all those who are good at their jobs", Djindjic stated. Despite all promises, many have already started looking around for new jobs in the City Hall. All have been promised that they shall be provided for. The former government has obviously retreated to "reserve positions" hoping that they won't be held there for long. Together with the personnel, it seems as though many former sources by which the vital city services were financed shall be "evacuated" as well. Actually, all is implemented in order to compromise the new government as much as possible from the very start and as a Blic daily columnist noted these days, to reduce the opposition mayor to a position which would resemble 'a local Zoran Lilic'. Which practically means that their management of the large cities in Serbia could boil down to the Hungarian proverb - "here's nothing, and guard it well".

The answer to the question - what did the opposition really gain by victory at the local elections in the largest cities of Serbia - is uppermost in the minds of the ones and the others. Especially taking into account that the answer can in no way be unambiguous. According to certain interpretations the opposition did not really gain all that much as appeared at first glance. By taking over the large cities, it has burdened itself with huge obligations and duties on one hand, and very little authority and money on the other, so that many are now asking themselves - is there any victory in it all. When on top of that is added that the former government shall try to demolish as much as possible prior to their departure and leave those who are to replace them buried beneath the rubble, the situation is in no way easy. Of what, for example, awaits Zoran Djindjic and his team if they take over the care of the city, the statement of Ljubomir Andjelkovic from the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) to the Dnevni Telegraf daily speaks volumes: "Belgrade does not have it's plots, it does not have a public utility system, nor a power-energetic system, all that is owned by the Republic. There are no laws on the capital city. Belgrade does not have it's own authentic police force. The water supplying system is in a rather pitiful state, economy has come to a halt. All authority has been taken from Belgrade, the city is totally deprived of it's rights". The DSS spokesman Milorad Jovanovic claims that the Belgrade strong-box is being completely cleaned out at this moment in order to leave nothing in it for the opposition. No nicer scene shall await those who take over the care of Novi Sad, Kragujevac and eventually, Nis. Large systems in these cities have started collapsing a long time ago, most of the working people are swaying towards the very edge of poverty, while utility service systems and city services are in no better shape than in the capital city. Therefore, taking over government in these cities at this moment does not seem as a very good basis and start from which the republic government can be conquered and dismantled.

On the other hand, those who believe that the opposition, regardless of the inheritance it comes upon, cannot now adopt the mode of behaviour in keeping with - "we are afraid of what we have demanded for years" are also right. Therefore, victory at the local elections could be regarded from an incomparably more optimistic view. Primarily psychological. The mere fact that the so-called "little man" could finally see how a government in Serbia (be it only the local one), is changed by way of the elections and by voters ballots, and not by any other way, and that following such an act no hole has been left in the universe, is of unparalleled value for the Serbian opposition. Regardless of the fact that the socialists are now trying to cover up their loss of the larger cities or to show it up as a moment of weakness of "certain party organizations", and shall not just hand over authority to their political rivals, the myth of their invincibility has finally been crushed. Slobodan Milosevic has experienced his first election defeat and that in the hour when it was almost certain that the republican elections which are to be held next year were to be of a "mere technical nature". On these elections, even the most "up-and-coming" Socialists lost as well. The mayor of Belgrade, Nebojsa Covic, was known as one of the most popular SPS members, had great daily coverage on almost all the TV stations, and finally met with complete fiasco as captain of the team who had the task of winning a victory in Belgrade at all costs. The message which an average voter has received by his defeat is - if Covic lost, those more important than him could do so as well.

Regardless of the fact that they shall give their best to leave "atomic dust" behind them, the Socialists shall in the future, as keepers of government in higher instances, find themselves in many unpleasant situations which at this moment are impossible to clearly perceive to the very end. When the dissatisfied workers of the Zastava plant come to protest in front of the Kragujevac municipality next time, it is highly possible that the very opposition mayor of Kragujevac shall join their protest along with his entire city government. After which they will all together head for Belgrade where, under Marjanovic's, Kontic's or Milosevic's window they will demand a solution to their problems. Anyway, such a scenario is well known and was utilized for a long time by Slobodan Milosevic himself. Workers who have, in the eve of the collapse of the country, arrived in front of the Federal Parliament to complain, were craftily referred to another address (reminding them by the way that they weren't only workers, but Serbs as well), and used as a "time bomb" in his political clashes with the federal top ranking officials and the local governments of other republics. That same bomb, by a similar scenario, could now explode in his hand, since in the meantime others have learned how to set it. Even more so since workers are taking to the streets more often than ever, and less and less as Serbs.

According to many opinions, the opposition's greatest gain from the victory at the local elections can come about by taking over certain local media and in such a manner, prior to the elections next year, at least partially alleviate the existing media inequality. In which directions things could be headed in this field can best be seen by the example of the local TV station in Trstenik. Immediately after having heard that Trstenik, otherwise a seat of the famous SPS representative Raka Radovic, has passed into opposition hands, the old government decided to attach the local TV station to the RTS system. Those who are well informed say that it is only a question of days before something similar occurs to Studio B whose "liberation" has been announced by the opposition leaders as their first Belgrade move following their government takeover. Throughout the opposition headquarters a new-old former NTV editorial staff is being drawn up. At the same time, in the headquarters of the socialists who are packing their drawers throughout the City Hall offices, a solution prepared for a "god forbid situation" could jump out from those very drawers. Turmoil in the media have commenced even in environments which should not be unduly jeopardized by the local election results. The head of TV Politika has been changed, while things seem to be cooking in the very Politika daily as well. Dispiritedness seems to be reigning in RTS as well from where the story emerged that the head of this television house, Dragoljub Milanovic, is seen as finished and ready for the already famous "recycling" of used SPS personnel. The explanation of this story, in case it proves to be accurate, is truly amazing. The unfortunate Milanovic, as word has it, has overstepped the mark regarding propaganda activities and praise of the left coalition which, according to somebody's evaluation, has finally brought about a counter-effect with a part of the electoral body.

At the moment while they are accusing the "thieving government" for trying to steal even the election results, the opposition is at the same time swearing by their own honesty and promising moral cleanliness everywhere where they shall hold power. Immediately after finding out that the Radicals have achieved victory in the Zemun municipality, their leader Dr. Vojislav Seselj promised that this shall be an "experimental municipality" and that the Radicals shall show everyone how to preserve and respect the confidence of the voters. Zoran Djindjic also promised that no shadow shall fall over his management of Belgrade since through Belgrade, maturity to rule over the rest of Serbia needs to be proven. The "call of the sirens" of the government and all that goes with it, could turn out to be truly fatal for the opposition if promises are soon forgotten and the following logic adopted - "let Milosevic worry about Dayton, while we worry about shop space and plots". And as far as shop space and plots are concerned, it is certain that in the nearer future there shall be no construction of a Belgrade "Chinatown" or "Europolis", which has already been classified by the potential mayor as "Potemkin's villages".

In the first reactions on the results of the local elections it could be heard, among other things, how Serbia is finally approaching times of "serious political activities". However, at the very start everything turned out to be too serious and is slowly sliding towards an emergency state with unpredictable consequences. A full three days following the elections at least half of Serbia does not know what really occurred on those elections and who actually won. At the same time, the other half is preparing to defend their victory to the very end. A man who could easily find a way out of such a situation, the President of Serbia, as is his usual behavior in similar situations, is quiet and is letting things go too far yet again without any need.

However, after the last local elections he resembles Tyson more and more. He still seems powerful with loads of muscle, and is still capable of hitting hard, yet it has been revealed that he has a glass jaw.