From Havel to Striker

Especially when they’re speaking about each other. Politika, the daily they complained was the worst regime newspaper, is also giving them plenty of space -at least half a page every day with pictures- and the daily has introduced a daily column titled 'Clashes in the Zajedno Coalition'. The rest of press is racing to publish "reliable" reports on the rift between Draskovic and Djindjic cloaked in a variety of conspiracy theories.

During the three-month protests, both those leaders, with help from Vesna Pesic, showed a high level of political maturity in a number of situations, showing every day that this time they’re not just representing themselves and their voters but the idea of democracy as well.

The trouble started the moment they got what they’d been demanding on the streets; the moment the only important thing was not to make any mistakes. Draskovic was offended by the fact that some Democratic Party (DS) members sought a Serb Havel in the press, forgetting an internal agreement that Draskovic’s Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) would name a presidential candidate. After the new authorities were formed in the cities and towns Zajedno won at the November elections, the coalition members traded words and both sides gave assurances that "not every firecracker should be viewed as a nuclear bomb".

The Zajedno leaders went to Washington and were told that they should go on together. When they returned DS leader Zoran Djindjic repeated a stand he voiced earlier that it’s too early and non-productive to talk about a presidential candidate until we know what the rules of the elections will be. He added that he has no personal ambitions to become Serbian President or Prime Minister and only wants to play for the team that is certain to win. He used a football metaphor: he wants to play halfback with a clear view to the striker in front of the goal who can score.

It seems that after the unsuccessful search for a Havel, Zajedno is now looking for its striker. Draskovic identified with the statement while he was in New York for a round table on Kosovo and immediately told Djindjic to mind his own business and keep quiet "because that’s when he’s wisest". Only Pesic tried her best to keep the coalition together.

Belgrade Mayor Djindjic doesn’t feel a crisis has to mean an end to Zajedno. He told VREME that the new situation is "a new stage with high stakes". New elections are being prepared and there won’t be another chance for four years. He said the previous elections were a rehearsal and his ambition was to win local power in cities so that they could win the republican elections more easily. "Every next step after the rehearsal is like taking a step on wire with no safety net underneath. Every wrong step and failure leads to an abyss. Defeat at the next elections takes every meaning away from the coalition. I’m careful and I react a little too sensitively to some steps that I don’t think are part of a winning strategy. Those are primarily promoting the monarchy as a part of the election campaign, mentioning (W.W.II Yugoslav Royal Army chief General) Draza Mihajlovic as a rallying symbol for changes, promoting a presidential candidate in the first wave of other candidates with no serious assessment of how that will affect our future steps and the strategy of our opponents. All that worried me and I reacted as I did which caused some negative reactions in turn and left the impression of a serious crisis. This would be a crisis if there were no way to reconcile those positions: my demand to define a winning strategy and then find the right people for the job, and the policy that wants to name candidates first. I hope that there can be a reconciliation and that we will agree on our only goal being election victory," Djindjic said.

VREME asked how his stand that Draskovic is not the right striker and the SPO stand that Draskovic is the striker can be reconciled, and Djindjic said the criteria of successfulness have to be defined. He said criteria can be defined on who can win very precisely and without bias with the help of research agencies which can help define the right candidate. Djindjic said the entire situation is eased by the fact that he personally is not that candidate which releases him from the burden of having to "sacrifice collective interests for someone’s ambition". He said it would be counterproductive to debate people before possible candidates have a chance to present their programs. He proposed the following steps: defining a winning strategy, unblocking the media and promoting coalition candidates in a quality campaign by a good team who will win over "weak counter-candidates: the isolationist Seselj, a pale SPS replacement for Milosevic or someone else who doesn’t have the backing of a powerful political party or group".

"There’s nothing dramatic in all that. I don’t agree with the logic of saying let’s find a candidate, enter him in the race and if he doesn’t win we can say the elections weren’t important. If we enter the race I want to find the right runner right away," Djindjic said, and added that he is prepared to give up his post as mayor if anyone feels he can use it to achieve an advantage and promote himself. "If someone regrets not entering the race and wants compensation, it’s less damaging for me to withdraw than to loose everything the coalition won. I am prepared to withdraw from any post if I have imposed myself as a solution that might not be the best, if I’m not the best for the common goal. I ask the same from everyone else," he said.

While this article was being written Draskovic was on his way to Belgrade from New York so VREME asked his advisor and Djindjic’s deputy Mayor Milan Bozic to clarify his party’s stand on the situation. Bozic feels Zajedno is facing its most serious crisis to date, worse than when Dragoslav Avramovic left. The seriousness of the crisis is reflected in the fact that so much hope lies in the coalition. Bozic believes the danger to the coalition are not the tactical differences between the SPO and DS on whether to personify all important posts right away (the SPO) or do that later when we know the election conditions (the DS). "We’ve seen many times to date that the image of the three leaders provides good results and is accepted well. We’ve seen how important it is to see who this is about. Whenever Miroljub Labus, Vojin Dimitrijevic and I were somewhere instead of the three of them we were received well but we could see that this was something else. Obviously there is a strong need in politics at home and abroad to personify political powers. That image, Draskovic for president, Djindjic for prime minister, Pesic for parliament speaker, if we win, is necessary we believe. Our campaign behind that is clearly defined: we are offering political goods and figures and basing our campaign on them and whether we’ll decide to boycott the elections is another