Montenegro Divided As Reformist Wins Presidency

Illawarra Mercury

Wednesday October 22, 1997

PODGORICA, Yugoslavia.- Montenegro looked deeply divided yesterday between supporters of the elected president, reformist Milo Djukanovic, and of his rival Momir Bulatovic, who refused to recognise his defeat and called for daily protests.

"I feel like (a) winner," Mr Bulatovic, a long-time close ally of Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, told state-controlled radio Belgrade, adding that his camp "will prove that a big number of votes was literally stolen from citizens".

But the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission, which has monitored the vote during both rounds of presidential polls, concluded that "the preliminary results of the election reflects the will of the electorate in the republic".

Mr Bulatovic and Mr Djukanovic were both members of Montenegrin ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, which split in two this year over diametrically opposed positions about which direction their tiny republic should take.

Senior figures in Mr Bulatovic's faction of the DPS said the results of the polls would not be recognised until "suspicions over irregularities were cleared".

The party officials said that 20,000 votes for Mr Bulatovic were "stolen".

Mr Bulatovic's supporters earlier decided to organise daily "peaceful" protests and some 3000 people gathered in front of the Montenegrin presidency building yesterday shouting "Montenegro is Serbia" and waving Yugoslav flags.

His faction of the party also called for "expert help from the Yugoslav federal institutions over the establishing of the polls results".

Mr Bulatovic has remained a faithful ally of Mr Milosevic throughout his tenure as president. He has unquestioningly supported the Balkan strongman's autocratic leadership during the Yugoslav secession wars that has seen Montenegro and its much larger partner, Serbia, become international pariahs.

Mr Djukanovic, 35, on the other hand has openly criticised Mr Milosevic and presents himself as a political and economic reformer, a message that has been welcomed among the dispirited ranks of ordinary Montenegrins.

Meanwhile, the United States welcomed Mr Djukanovic's victory, praising Montenegro's voters for their "rejection of nationalist and ethnic rhetoric, and their support for political and economic reform".

France also congratulated Mr Djukanovic.

© 1997 Illawarra Mercury

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