War Elections '92

In the Writers' Club of Serbia the signing of an appeal for the forming of a democratic movement in Serbia is in progress. By Thursday the appeal had been signed by around 1,200 people. The demands defined at a closed session of the initial board last Saturday are related to the calling of elections for a Constitution-making assembly, postponement of the elections set for May 31, the organization of round table talks between the government and the opposition, and the calling of a referendum by which people can decide between a republic and a monarchy.

A new meeting of the initiators has been set for next Saturday which could involve the constituting of this movement and elections of its leaders.

The latest declaration is in its demands more moderate, less definite and less activist from that which preceded it, and this, it seems, has disappointed some of the advocates for the federation of the Serbian opposition.

Vuk Draskovic was the one who, three weeks ago, announced the idea of creating a Federation of Democratic Renewal.

On the other hand, the Democratic party announced six months ago that it would be working on the formation of a broad coalition of civil and political organizations....

It isn't always clear if the national elite criticizes Milosevic because of the war he has waged or because he has lost it. The Serbian intellectual bloc has obviously divided into those in favor of the regime and those in favor of the opposition.

It is a question what the ranges of this initiative will be. The basic problem is that all political themes are brought down to the same thing: the question of nationality, the energy of which has been exploited by Milosevic.

The paradox of Milosevic's policy is that, like some unhappy prediction that fulfills itself, he is the one who really created the problem of Serbian nationalism.

Support for the initiative for the bringing together of the opposition has also come from the liberal wing - from the Republican Club and the Reform Party. The Vojvodina Reform Democratic Party is coming round to the decision of joining this initiative. The Democratic Party supports it with less reservation regarding the proposed organization plan - the leaders of this party were afraid that the establishment of a new non-party leadership might destroy the existence of the different parties, that it would give way to careless adventurism or bring advantage to the Serbian Renewal Movement.

The latest announcement concerning the leadership says that the new association should be made up primarily of non-party persons and that the front league of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Democratic, and Serbian Liberal Parties would not be included. According to TANJUG, the new association would not threaten the autonomy of the existing political parties; Dragoljub Micunovic greeted this with one word: "Excellent!"

This initiative is an answer to frequent public demands for the bringing together of the scattered opposition forces. It also suggests that Milosevic has lost the support of national institutions and that he is facing a confrontation with the democratic center. He is trying to win the elections in alliance with the Serbian Radicals, the Serbian Democratic Party and independent war lobbyists.

The attempt on the part of 23 MPs to challenge the legitimacy of the elections has revealed that Milosevic does not pay much attention to formal obstacles in the way of his intention to arrange a plebiscitary "no" and to retain the power of his nomenclature, although elections organized in this manner are one of the reasons for the pressure which has been applied to the Serbian authorities.

In the amendment to the Constitutional Law on the Application of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia of October 24, it says that the Serbian National Assembly will determine the period in which elections for the municipal councils and Belgrade City Council must be held. On the same day the decision of Parliament President, Aleksandar Bakocevic, to put out of force the decree on the holding of local elections was announced. President Bakocevic announced the elections on April 29, even though the state of danger from war had not yet been lifted or a decree passed by the Parliament on the period in which the elections will be called.

A decree was passed by the Yugoslav Presidency on the evening of Wednesday, May 20 - some time after attention was drawn to the said article of the Constitutional Law on ITV Studio B. The decree on danger from war was in any way a formal cover for the rump Presidency to function at all in the past eight months.

The next day an emergency meeting was held to discuss whether the president of the Serbian Parliament had violated his constitutional authority. Mr. Bakocevic was not present at this meeting though he entered the Parliament building directly before the discussion began.

Theoretically, Milosevic can still make use of the chance that was offered him, though it is not clear whether he will. Maybe it is his aim to organize this kind of elections by which he would add the votes of those resistant to Europe, the votes of those excited by the illegal Albanian elections in Kosovo and the eventual incident in the "southern province, to those of the people who still trust him or who are less afraid of him than of Seselj.

Milosevic could continue to strengthen the extreme right wing and in this way break and destroy the pro-Europe democratic center in Serbia. His team doesn't mind if it scores a hand goal. This crowd secures its power by manipulations so obvious and compromising that many consider them to be impossible. This was clearly seen last Wednesday: they tried to push the election of a judge (chosen for life) between two blocks of MP questions.

Milosevic is organizing elections like some kind of plebeian entertainment in evil times - the kind of entertainment after which the village burns down.