Poll Win Delivers Blow To Milosevic

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday October 21, 1997

By CHRIS HEDGES in Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic, who has dominated the political life in this country since it broke apart, has had another key support knocked out from under him with the election of a staunch political foe to the presidency of Montenegro.

The winner of the election run-off, Mr Milo Djukanovic, 35, Prime Minister of Montenegro, has denounced Mr Milo-sevic's authoritarian rule and appears to be edging his republic towards secession.

Montenegro, with 600,000 of Yugoslavia's 9.4 million people, has under the Constitution equal rights with Serbia, the only other republic that remains in Yugoslavia.

Montenegro controls half the Parliament's Upper House, which has the power to choose or dismiss the Yugoslav president.

Mr Milosevic, who had the old Parliament appoint him to the largely ceremonial position of Yugoslav President in July because he could not run for a third term as Serbian President, had hoped to pass a series of bills transferring powers to his new office.

But Mr Djukanovic has already used the votes he controls in the new Federal Parliament, elected last month, to block Mr Milosevic from changing the Constitution to grant him the sweeping powers he seized as Serbia's President.

Mr Djukanovic has branded Mr Milosevic as "an outdated politician" and said that Yugoslavia had no future with him in power. He has also hinted that the time had come for Montenegro to declare independence and take the route of the other republics of the former Yugoslavia - Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia.

The defeat of President Momir Bulatovic, 41, a Milosevic prote?ge?, set off celebrations throughout the night in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital.

But Mr Bulatovic yesterday rejected the results of Sunday's poll and called on his supporters to hold daily protests.

"We have been robbed. We must not accept such an election result. This is highway robbery," Mr Bulatovic said, referring to a series of objections lodged against what his camp has called an election fraud.

The New York Times, Reuters

© 1997 Sydney Morning Herald

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