The Same Old Circus

Promising that he would work for peace and economic development, and fight crime, less than a minute after taking an oath, Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic announced that, after consultations with representatives of the parliamentary majority, he decided to propose the minister of industry in several Serbian governments, Nikola Sainovic, as prime minister designate. In principle, the president of the Republic does not perform his duties before taking an oath, and the parliamentary majority is determined after the mandates are verified. Therefore, the president of the Republic had consultations about the prime minister designate before pledging and oath, and with representatives of the majority, before they legally became the majority. The prime minister designate started consultations with the leaders of parliamentary groups before it was determined which parliamentary groups exist in the Assembly. At the first parliamentary session, the Serbian radicals (SRS) behaved as the nucleus of the Socialist Party (SPS) - they readily and harmoniously stood up when Milosevic entered the hall, they applauded with somewhat less enthusiasm, but then again, harmoniously and quickly, they voted against the opposition's proposal (the Democrats claimed that due to wrong calculation the socialists got two of their seats in parliament). They readily sat in the best places in front of television cameras, right behind the government, pushing members of the Serbian Acadamy of Arts and Sciences and the entire Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS) to the back seats. The members of DEPOS in black suits, giving the impression of grandeur, remained sitting when Milosevic entered the hall. The leader of the Radicals Vojislav Seselj, who paraded around red in the face, held a press conference at which he announced the dismissal of President of Yugoslavia Dobrica Cosic, in the Assembly building, although a provision in the book of working regulations from March 1991 bans the heads of parties to enter the Assembly. But, at the time the provision was directed against Vuk Draskovic (leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement SPO). The Socialists are not managing to hide their firm alliance with the Serbian Radicals, whom they are, nevertheless, leaving out of direct rule, not because they feel uneasy, it seems, but rather because they do not trust Seselj enough to reveal to him their secrets. Judging by the statements by socialist officials, they expect this arrangement to last at least until the sanctions and the war in Bosnia last, and they believe that the Serbian minority government will be somewhat more stable than the federal minority-coalition government. Seselj, in a disciplined way, adapts his statements about Bosnia to what Milosevic says. He attacks Cosic for what he did in accord with Milosevic. The socialists have formed an open coalition with the radicals in Novi Sad and throughout Vojvodina. Representatives of the democratic opposition left the constitutive session of the Vojvodina Assembly because the working regulations were violated, and then the coalition of the Socialist Party of Serbia, the Serbian Radical Party and the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) elected, by open vote, the leadership of the parliament. In the poorly aired assembly hall, the atmosphere will, to all intents and purposes, be a bit worse than during the last term of office, but nothing major will take place there - they will discuss unimportant questions, and patriots and traitors will also loudly be pinpointed now and then. The president's taking of office was marked by what he said in his first public address - he claimed that, at the last elections, the attempt at destabilizing Serbia failed, and the destabilizing factor, according to him, is the democratic center, with which he has already started a showdown. Obviously following instructions and taking advantage of the post-electoral depression, Bozovic's outgoing government has taken several moves in the inter regnum, aimed at establishing control over the rebellious Belgrade university and cultural institutions, by persecuting democratically oriented people. One of the points which, according to the regime, should be controlled is the National Theater whose keys have been given to unstable actor Aleksandar Bercek who recently rejoiced about how the "enemies" of Serbia would run away from Seselj. When Milosevic entered the Assembly hall someone shouted "bravo", which made very happy the assembly clerks pressing on the gallery. Therefore, in a somewhat more complicated game, the same team continues to rule without any obstacles.