Marisol Among the Radicals

Accusations of sex-spy scandals, one minister fired on grounds of nepotism, one official thrown out of the party, several resignations by lower officials in both regions, stories of profound dissatisfaction - could this mean a serious crisis in the Serbia Radical Party?

AWFUL: Upheaval among the Radicals - who kept bragging about their unity - began on November 18, when the Government of Serbia fired the Minister for Family Care, Rada Trajkovic, otherwise a doctor from Pristina.  According to the Leader of the Radicals, Vojislav Seselj, Trajkovic was cast out for “abuse of her ministerial office”, that is to say she “stooped” because she wished to help the career advancement of her cousin, Radomir Vujicic, from community court judge in Pristina to the position of Regional Court Judge in Nis.

“Ministers in the Government ought to serve as models of moral behavior and correctness.  If a minister stoops morally, than that is awful,” stated Seselj, according to the Glas Javnosti.

The problems began for the party because Trajkovic did not want to leave quietly, even though Seselj told her quite nicely that she should hand in her resignation.  “He asked me to submit my resignation because of a mistake I made in my position of minister.  I told him that I intend to do no such thing, given that I did not make a single mistake in my duties,” stated the fired minister in one of her excited reactions.

INTIMATE CONNECTIONS: Rada Trajkovic otherwise claims that the conflict has nothing to do with her cousin.  On the contrary, the conflict with Seselj dates back to the time when she joined the Radical Party, and was caused by the Leader’s “totalitarian behavior,” while in contrast to him “even JUL and SPS are more liberal.”  Trajkovic discovered the given “behavior” mainly in the fact that Seselj ignored many warnings that Maja Gojkovic, otherwise Minister in the Government of Serbia and vice-president of SRS, was having “an affair with a highly positioned Albanian from the negotiating team” who works in Koha Ditore.  The former minister learned of this affair “last winter from a ski holiday on Brezovica,” and hurried to inform her Chief, “given that Maja Gojkovic is no small fry.”

Seselj’s answer to that was that “all claims of Maja Gojkovic having an affair with the leader of a terrorist organization and a member of the editorial office of Koha Ditore are mere balderdash,” while the reaction by Gojkovic herself was to say that the entire matter reminds her of the TV series “Marisol”, stating that “let the people be entertained, while we intend to deal with serious issues.”

But that was not the end of that: Trajkovic’s cousin, Judge Vujicic - who claimed that Seselj made his career advancement dependent on joining the Radical Party - stated that as a Serb from Kosovo he was unable to join the Radical Party because supposedly members of that party associate with the KLA, specifically with two Albanian brothers with the last name Gorani who, furthermore, have connections with the Croatian secret service.

PATRIOTISM: Seselj’s profound sense of patriotism could not stand it any longer.  He sued the Glas Javnosti, which had published the above statement.  According to the Law on Information, the company NIP “Glas” and the daily paper Glas Javnosti have been fined 380,000 dinars.  Otherwise, in the SRS party program released in July of last year, it is stated that “the Serbian Radical Party, as a party of pronounced democratic standards, supports the acknowledgment of the freedom of the press as one of the fundamental political freedoms,” and that “complete control over all aspects of information and its censure reflect most closely the anti-civilization nature of the ruling regime.”
However, let us get back to the inner party squabbles.  As he supported his wife, Veselin Trajkovic, member of  the SRS Committee for Kosovo, was swiftly booted out of the party, otherwise occupying the position of Dean of the Medical Faculty in Pristina.  Immediately after, resignations were submitted by Presidents of Community Committees, Sasa Aksic (Pristina), Djordje Peric (Kosovo Polje), Ivan Bogavac (Glogovac) and Dragisa Kostic (Obilic), claiming that the Radical officials in those communities would follow suit.

UNPLEASANT: Askic’s explanation that resignations were “directly provoked” by Rada Trajkovic’s dismissal, should be extremely unpleasant for Seselj, especially the claim that Seselj “permitted election rigging in Kosovo by the Socialists.”

It seems that the Radicals are also experiencing problems in Vojvodina.  Agency “Beta” reported on the claim by an anonymous Radical official in that region that five presidents of community committees submitted their resignations, while ten more are getting ready to do the same thing.  Seselj stated that “Beta” is lying.

CONSEQUENCES: The extent of the conflict could become more apparent after the session of the Central Patriotic Directorate, scheduled for November 28, in which, for starters, Rada Trajkovic is expected to be thrown out of the party.

However, it is already clear that the Radicals are not able to fire and dismiss based on so little in the way the Socialists have been able to do for years now.  According to some claims, the Socialists are having a ball watching what is happening in the coalition ranks.  Time will show how this latest development has been reflected among the voters, but it is interesting that Seselj’s rating has already begun to fall off.  According to the results of the latest research conducted by the Medijum Agency, citizens asked about the dominant characteristics of politicians are today ascribing a two-faced nature more frequently to the Leader of the Radicals than to the Leader of SPO, Vuk Draskovic.  What is at issue are Seselj’s results since entering government, while those polled criticize him most for reneging on his election promises of selling Tito’s limousines and villas, on lowering the highest pensions, and on raising the lowest ones...  Ph.D. Srbobran Braknovic, Director of Medijum, thinks that the President of FRY, Slobodan Milosevic, achieved what he wanted by including Seselj in the Government: braking the illusion of a politician who has a quick and fast solution to everything, of Seselj as a decisive opposition politician, that is to say a strengthening of the gloomy belief that nothing can be changed here, that the government is faulty, but it has no alternative...

DR. SPOCK: If our reality appears immune to change, it has become clear that this is not the case as far as Seselj’s politics are concerned.  What is at issue is not merely a change in his method of coming to power - from unthinkable denunciation of his favorite Law on Information (“Milosevic is the biggest crook,” “Mira Markovic is a red witch”), to infiltration of official state structures.  In the name of an ambition of becoming boss, Serbia’s Dr. Spock, otherwise all shot through with moral principles, will accept flagrant election rigging of his party’s votes and, instead of becoming President of Serbia, he will accept a position of Vice-President, which allows him to be that much closer to the throne.  He has suffered degradation before at the hands of the regime which he is supporting so wholeheartedly today - let us remember that in the early nineties he was arrested as a presidential candidate while campaigning, and nothing happened.  He even accepts to be degraded by the evil Westerners, to whom he constantly directs threats: he quietly accepted to be booted out of Republika Srpska some ten days ago by Carlos Westendorp.

METAMORPHOSIS: What some people are willing to do just to be in power is evident primarily in the metamorphosis which occurred in Seselj’s stance on Kosovo.  Beginning with the policy appearing in the Party Program (“the Serbian Radical Party will insist on discontinuing all autonomous regions”) and the statement in September of this year that Kosovo’s Albanians should be allowed “personal and cultural autonomy” within which “healthcare, education, culture, old age pension security” would be independently organized, along with a few other matters, he arrived at supporting Milutinovic’s settlement on self-management in Kosovo with as many as two official statements to that effect.  This settlement, it will be remembered, stipulates that “members of the local police are not permitted to use force against members of other nationalities.”
In the meantime, Seselj, whose reaction to the Milosevic-Holbrooke agreement was being followed with utmost attention, gave full legitimacy to every limitation of sovereignty which result from this agreement and those which follow it.  He stated that Milosevic’s concessions to Holbrooke are “completely in accordance with the Party Program of SRS,” and that an agreement has been reached which is “in accordance” with conclusions adopted by the Parliament of FRY and Serbia on Kosovo, and the decision adopted in the referendum in Serbia in which foreign mediation was refused in finding a solution to the region’s problem.

The fact that OSCE verifiers, according to the Jovanovic-Geremek agreement, can go on patrols with our police units and Yugoslav Army border patrols, at their own request, was not commented upon by Seselj.  That is why, according to him, acceptance of “unarmed planes” flying over Kosovo does not go against the “principle” of a sovereign FRY.  Neither is the formation of local police forces in conflict with the Serbian Constitution, for “in 92 villages in Kosovo, ethnic Albanian units for local security have already been formed,” while local police in Kosovo will still continue to carry guns, truncheons and handcuffs, and will be “under the control of the Republic of Serbia.”  Hill’s shuttle diplomacy, the numerous versions of his plan for Kosovo and the overall American influence on the solution of the status of the region have all been explained by Seselj with the assertion that the agreement between the Serbian and Albanian sides on Kosovo and Metohija will be reached through “direct dialogue”, which, however, “does not exclude the possibility that the room where dialogue will be conducted will have an audience which will not influence the reaching of a solution.”  The very peak of demagogy, however, has been reached in the plot of uniting with Russia and Belarus at a time when NATO has been allowed access to Kosovo.

EPILOGUE: However, his position will not be threatened through such a turn - given that it is clearly in the Government’s interest.  Even though it is possible to hear from all sides these days rumors that Seselj’s days are numbered and that Draskovic - who is ready and waiting -  is set to replace him, Srbobran Brankovic does not believe this.  “The Chief is still not considering deploying his extra player.  A new cycle of radicalization is being expected in Kosovo, so that Seselj still has a purpose in that sort of alliance,” he states.

Judging by all accounts, Seselj will not be appreciably threatened by inner party squabbles, or by political manipulation.  He will be in power for as long as the ruling couple sees a reason for that, for as long as they can safely adopt newer and newer taxes, laws on information, arguable agreements with American mediators, for as long as professors and students, and sometimes the media need to be bullied, thanks to the majority which he brings to them.  In the meantime, Milosevic is taking great care not to let Seselj anywhere near the key positions of power - the army, the police and finance.  And when and if he assesses that it might be profitable to give him the boot, or when Ph.D. Markovic suddenly remembers all the insults which she suffered at Seselj’s hands - he will disappear from Government bright and early one morning.  It is too early to guess what will happen after that.