Our Heart Bleeds

The time when Vojislav Seselj was regularly seen as a court jester is long behind us. The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) does entertain the public with his outspoken rhetorics every now and then, but Seselj is now a force to be reckoned with on Serbia's political scene, with or without Milosevic's backing. It is still uncertain who will be the left-wing candidate at the upcoming presidential elections in Serbia, while Zajedno coalition's candidate is going through a very rough patch. Most observers believe that Seselj is virtually assured of making the second round.

Vreme: You keep saying what the Socialists like to hear but won't say it themselves. How come ?

Seselj: We don't play music to the Socialists' ears, we say things in the best interest of the SRS. The opposition has been advocating proportional local elections for the past seven years. Now is the chance to come through with this motion because the Socialists might have to accept this term now. The SRS would have had ten times more deputies if we had a proportional election system. The latest elections were completely rigged and the Socialists are to blame for this because they rigged the election results and nullified the mandates of deputies. However, Zajedno did very much the same thing - during the election campaign the coalition distributed thousands of pamphlets saying the radicals supported Zajedno's candidates. Lex specialis, on the other hand, is an insult to legislature. The Zajedno coalition trembles at the very mentioning of fresh local elections because it is aware of its political impotence.

You are present in both pro-regime and opposition media. Do you think the Socialists will regret allowing you to speak on their television so frequently ?

I think they will regret a lot of things. It is obvious that the Socialists are becoming history. Last year, they were dealt a blow they will never be able to recover from. Our goal is to secure a peaceful, democratic and legitimate transfer of authority, through elections rather than violence and bloodshed on the streets. If we had the media at our disposal, we would already have been in power. Both the opposition and regime media are telling lies about us. We are fighting both the regime and western powers represented by their protégés in Serbia.

Will you run as a presidential candidate in Serbia ?

That is still an open issue. The Central Fatherland Board will decide. The party has launched an initiative for my candidacy.

Will the radicals lend support to Slobodan Milosevic in the federal assembly if he becomes Yugoslav president ?

The radicals will not support him, but he doesn't need our support to become president.

You said once that you would have never turned against Milosevic if he hadn't changed his patriotic course. Do you think that he has taken that course again ?

That's something you should ask him. Some moves indicate that he has gone back to the patriotic track, but it is still too early to draw any long-term conclusions. The establishment of parallel relations with the Serb Republic in Bosnia, lending support to Momir Bulatovic in his quest against Milo Djukanovic and the refusal to attend the Serb - Albanian talks in New York were the right things to do. However, the Socialists must explain why New Democracy, a member of the left-wing ruling coalition, is taking part in the New York talks.

Do you assess Mira Markovic's demise from the Serbian political scene as a positive sign, and could that make the SRS and the ruling Socialists allies once again ?

There will be no restoration of ties between us and the Socialists. The Socialists are still trying to seize our mandates. They break the law openly and unscrupulously. Mira Markovic's demise from the political scene is her own business. We will keep fighting our political adversaries.

The theory that Milosevic is trying to gird a new patriotic bloc keeps reoccurring. Do you think that the radicals could join that bloc under certain conditions, as you already said that Zajedno would be a worse option for the country ?

That issue is definitely a thing of the future. We don't wish to deal with what might happen under certain conditions, we have been consistent in our position from the very beginning. There is no turning back for us.

But you did say that you would support Milosevic again if he went back to a patriotic policy ?

First of all, I never said anything of the kind. I cannot forget the fall of Serb Krajina and one third of the Serb Republic on Bosnia. Our radical heart bleeds for the Serb victims, especially now that a new Serb exodus from Baranja is on the cards.

Do you think that Milosevic is wise in trying to settle relations with Montenegro once and for all before moving up to the federal level ?

I think the move is belated and that getting rid of Djukanovic will be a lot more difficult now than it would have been a few years ago. The Serbian Radical Party carried the quest against Djukanovic at that time.

Assuming that you make it to the second round of the presidential elections, would you rather face a left-wing candidate or someone from Zajedno ? Who would you stand a better chance against ?

We don't know yet who the left-wing candidates are. As far as the opposition coalition is concerned, Zoran Djindjic is apparently disputing Vuk Draskovic's candidacy.

Your recent remarks against Djindjic were striking.

He declared himself as a pro-German agent by marching with a German flag. He is worse than the Socialists. He steals mandates, breaks the law, we can't even breathe on Studio B television because he is around so much...

Is he your target because he is also your toughest political adversary at the moment ?

He is not my toughest opponent. My toughest political opponents are Slobodan Milosevic and Vuk Draskovic.

Then you don't agree with Djindjic's assessment that Draskovic would make a weak political candidate ?

Djindjic says he is weak, but I say that Zajedno doesn't have a better candidate.

What are your relations with Danica Draskovic ?

Our private relations have always remained intact. Even when Danica calls me the worst of names in her Srpska Rec weekly, I call her and tell her how much I enjoyed reading it. I do not hate anybody and I separate private and political relations. Our two parties are in a irreconcilable political conflict, which doesn't mean we have to hate each other in private. That is a modern, western approach to politics. Political rivals in the West use even more deplorable tactics than we do to win, but they always shake hands at the end of the race.

However, western politicians know they must use evidence rather than groundless accusations and slander against their opponents.

We haven't attained some western standards yet, our political morale is still below those heights. As far as the Radicals are concerned, we never made up anything. We never said anything we couldn't prove. Others amuse us with their ridiculous accusations when they have nothing left to offer.

How do you thing the accusation against Djindjic sounds ?

Many articles about him being a pro-German agent have been published by Srspka Rec. This weekly is published by his coalition partner, they even came up with coded messages...It is fact that he has been convicted of stealing a book, he fled to Germany as a draft-dodger, he joined the Red Brigades, the Bader - Meinhoff group, and he received a scholarship from the German government when the organization was taken apart and its members sent to prison. Do you know how many times he went to Germany since last November ? Ask someone to compare Djindjic's and Draskovic's reception in Germany. The very fact that he marched here under the German flag says a lot. What more do you need ?

How do you comment on the survey showing that you are the most unpopular politician with a large number of people, feared as a right-wing extremist ?

I am neither a right-wing extremist nor the most unpopular politician. No one with a common sense has any reason whatsoever to fear me. It is wrong to draw long-term conclusions from pub chats, which is what reporters like to do. Many reporter think that Serbia's public opinion is created in a few Belgrade popular pubs.