POLITICS-YUGOSLAVIA: Opposition Parties Ride Wave of Public Support

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

Belgrade, Apr 18 2000 (IPS) - Serbian opposition parties may face a tough battle to topple the Slobodan Milosevic regime, but they can do so if they remain united, political analysts here say.

“The opposition no longer has any choice,” political analyst Srdjan Bogosavljevic told independent Belgrade radio B292 after observing Friday’s massive anti-Milosevic demonstration held in Republic Square in downtown Belgrade. “This rally cannot and must not be ignored.”

The anti-Milosevic campaign has “achieved such a level of support that it (the opposition) has no right to betray public expectations”, Bogosavljevic added. “It must continue this way.”

More than 100,000 people attended the “Stop the terror: free elections” rally staged by Serbian opposition parties last Friday. Leaders of 17 opposition parties, including old rivals Vuk Draskovic of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and Zoran Djindjic of the Democratic Party (DS) addressed the rally. They reiterated demands for early elections and for Serbia to be returned to the international fold.

On Saturday Information Minister Aleksandar Vucic scoffed at the opposition’s demands. “The political scene is not a radio request show. Regular elections will be held next year,” Vucic said.

But the opposition has no plans to go away quietly. On Monday, through several press releases, the different parties noted that the pressure on the government to call early elections will continue.

“Even if it takes months of protests, we won’t give up,” Djindjic said.

The Opposition blames the 10 year old Milosevic administration for wars in Croatia (1991) and Bosnia (1992) and for pursuing the stubborn politics of confrontation with the international community that led to NATO air strikes against Serbia last year.

They also blame the regime for the unprecedented isolation of the country that started in 1992 over Milosevic’s refusal to co- operate with the international effort to halt the wars in the Balkans, and for the two rounds of international economic sanctions which impoverished the country.

Serbs have seen their living standards plummet over the years of Milosevic’s rule. Unemployment has reached 40 percent. More than 4.5 billion US dollars from the private savings accounts of Serbs were simply confiscated by the government in 1991 for its war effort. In the meantime, sanctions-busting and smuggling operations have made the circle close to Milosevic enormously rich.

Serbia’s ruling coalition, made up of Milosevic’s Socialists, his wife’s JUL and the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj, insiststhat the situation in the country is normal and blames “conspiracy of the West against freedom loving Serbia” for its isolation.

The situation in the country has grown increasingly tense as the regime has labelled its opponents the “prolonged hand of NATO aggression” and “traitors of the national interest”. Ordinary Serbs say the situation is ripe for violence.

The latest opinion survey in Serbia gives the united opposition 46 percent of votes if the elections are held now, while Milosevic’s Socialists, his wife’s JUL and the ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj would have 23 percent of the votes. Almost 30 percent of voters remain undecided, the survey of Institute of Socials Sciences said.

“The regime will be changed in this country by the end of this year, no matter how – peacefully, through opposition protests, or less peacefully” Srbobran Brankovic, a Belgrade analyst told IPS. “The most important thing is that the opposition remains united, as there is no doubt that the regime will try to undermine its unity.”

Old rivalries have prevented the leader of the SPO Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Djindjic (DS) from forging a strong opposition front against Milosevic in the past, despite six large anti-Milosevic protests they organised either together or singly since 1991.

Draskovic accepted Milosevic’s offer to enter his government of national unity ahead of NATO air raids, in January 1999, but was sacked by the Yugoslav president three months later. Djindjic fled Belgrade for Montenegro during NATO air raids, a move which many of his opposition colleagues considered unfair.

“Bury the hatchets – that is my message to the opposition,” Milica Gajic, a mother who brought her two kid daughters to the Friday rally told IPS. “If they fail to act united this time, they’ll miss the last chance to oust Milosevic. People still believe in the opposition.”

Another protester, 55 year old Milan Jankovic said: “I hope we can do this – change the government in a peaceful manner, with protests, elections. But fears are strong among ordinary people that even if the opposition wins the elections, the regime won’t step down peacefully … After all those wars we’ve seen, there is one war we fear the most and might see it – war among pro and anti- Milosevic Serbs.”