As Our Dad Says

The last week's spokesman of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Nikola Sainovic (Ivica Dacic who has become the leader of the Socialists of Belgrade, will be replaced on the function of that party's spokesman by someone from the Executive Board of SPS, until further notice) has once more proved to be irreplaceable in the discipline of neutral political discourse, which is by the way favourite among local socialists. In other words that means - as many phrases as possible, particularly the patriotic ones, and preferably no information at all. Sainovic, who was, at the last week's press conference, accompanied by quite an imposing number of bodyguards, was also asked about the possible date for the local elections. 'The local elections will be held this year. There will also be elections on the federal level', he was short, inventive and 'concrete' - Sainovic, whose way of speaking is comparable, in terms of 'enjoyment', to reading a telephone directory aloud.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF NATIONAL DEFENCE: The same day, Vice-President of the Serbian Government, Dr. Ratko Markovic also had his say on the subject, though with slightly more substantial arguments. He has foreseen that both the federal and local elections will be held 'most probably in May or in Autumn', and that they will most probably be joint due to the economy and a considerable abstinence of the voting body. Although slightly more concrete than Sainovic, Markovic's speech revealed nothing that the public was yet unaware of. The fact that the Socialists and their coalition partners are weighing what is more suitable for them - whether to call the elections in May or in Autumn - is known for a long time already, just as it is known that in June, July and August nobody really organises any elections. As one of the authors of the new Law on Local Autonomy, Prof. Markovic is also quite conscious that in the case of organising both the local and federal elections at the same time, the whole process of organisation and control of the elections should be under the jurisdiction of the Federal Parliament, i.e. that, in that case, the local authorities have nothing to do with the elections. That is one of the main reasons why the authorities have not yet decided to announce the pre-term local elections - which, for example, the Radicals already demand. The possibility of excluding the local authorities from the election process is in fact the only real argument in favour of postponing the local elections for Autumn this year. That gain is, however, connected with the so-called Montenegro risk as well as the announcements from Podgorica that no federal elections will be held in Montenegro this year.

At the same time, professor and law writer, Ratko Markovic cannot be given a full credibility when he mentions the problem of abstinence of the voters. Officially, each government 'wishes' to have as many voters as possible, and there can be no objection to that as a 'general attitude'. Some experts in election systems claim that the new Serbian Law on Local Authority (the law predicts one-circle election system for local parliaments) was created in such a way as to provide the authorities with a significant advantage. The law was, as the joke has it, made while Dr. Markovic was holding a picture of a disunited Serbian opposition. The announcements of the opposition's unification and the possibility of offering a single election list, with only 'opposition' on it (which is, by the way, not very easy to achieve) give the whole thing a different character. In that case, the experts declare, the regime finds the abstinence of the voters much more suitable, while the opposition can get away with it only if the Slovakian or Croatian recipe is applied - the extremely high level of reception among the voters.

About what the government is really up to can hardly be discerned from the Socialists. The majority of them respond to the question about local elections with 'that is what I would like to know too, but it will be as our 'dad' estimates it should be'.

Unofficially, the entire party apparatus has kept a high degree of mobility even after the Congress, and is now in the phase of expectation. Something like the paraphrase of the former Tito's philosophy of national defence - let us be ready as if the local elections will be held tomorrow, but let us hope that they will never be held and wait for the 'dad's judgement'. In the majority of municipal organisations of SPS, even before the Congress, certain new people have reached the top in order to lead the operation called 'assault on big cities'. Their primary task was to demonstrate that the Socialists have finally learned to behave as a real opposition and that those from JUL (the Yugoslav Left) cannot reproach them for being a 'comfortable' and noncombatant opposition in the biggest Serbian cities. Therefore, the regime media emit so many reports, on the basis of which it comes about that all the streets are overflowing with feces, and that we will all soon end up like the fish in the Tisa, unless something is done in the near future. That kind of atmosphere is particularly felt in Belgrade, where the new president of the city organisation, Ivica Dacic launched a pretty severe campaign, which it is quite unlikely to survive even until Autumn this year. A few days ago, Dacic visited Zemun where he spoke to the citizens, announcing that the capital definitely deserves a better government and a better life. He promised that the Socialists will help the citizens of Belgrade (the newspaper report have not got it clear whether he actually thought about Zemun and its citizens, or about the entire city of Belgrade).

MACHINES ON TOUR: The decision about the pre-term appointment of the local elections for May this year will be influenced by many factors, such as the impending dealings within the opposition. In order to opt for the elections more easily, Milosevic will need new proofs about new misunderstandings and intolerance within the opposition. A possible consensus about embarking upon another series of street protests and attempts to enforce the elections in the streets, could also influence the final decision of the regime. Those who bet on Milosevic's stubbornness, think that there is no chance for the elections before Autumn, because he will try to prove once more that everything is in his hands and under control. But, on the other hand, a completely different logic also resembles Milosevic: to call the local elections just a few days before the opposition street protests are announced, by which he would introduce a new dilemma - whether to go to the streets or not. At the time of printing this edition of VREME, the opposition leaders are actually talking about a possible schedule and scenarios of going to the street protests. One day before this meeting, the re-elected president of the Democratic Party, Dr. Zoran Djindjic has given an interview to Radio B292, in which he claimed that he would demand from all participants of this meeting to launch a campaign for local elections, although they were not previously announced. According to Djindjic's opinion, the opposition must not be in a state of surprise once more, and therefore it would be better to 'start the car, warm the machine up and be ready to move forward'.

Judging the words of the JUL Secretary of Information, Ivan Markovic, the other side already has its machine on tour. Several days ago, Markovic spoke in front of the Municipal Board of Rakovica that the approaching elections on a local level, or any other level, will in fact be a referendum of the citizens to opt for their own state. Those who vote for JUL, SPS and patriotic forces of the national front, embodied in the regime of the national unity of Serbia and FRY, will, according to Markovic, give their votes in favour of preserving and defending the country.

If it is so, it seems that only the questions for the referendum are missing. Two years ago, for example, the question on the referendum was formulated wrongly. The citizens were invited to express their views for and against foreign interference in our matter, and it turned out that several tens of thousands of foreign troops arrived in Kosovo after all.