SERBIAN DOS COALITION CEASES TO EXIST

BELGRADE, Nov 19 (Hina) - The Serbian ruling DOS coalition held its last session in Belgrade on Tuesday evening. #L# The chairman of the session, the leader of the Democratic Centre, Dragoljub Micunovic, read to reporters a statement saying that by calling elections for the Serbian parliament the coalition had ceased to exist and that its members could now start discussing possible new coalitions. "... I hope that all DOS parties would find a way to form an alliance again. By the end of this week, all parties will make known if they will be running in the elections alone or as part of a coalition," Micunovic told reporters after the last government session. In the December 2000 parliamentary elections, the DOS, at the time a coalition of 18 parties, managed to defeat the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. However, as time passed by, it started to crumble, first with the departure of the Democratic Party of Serbia and a conflict between its leader Vojislav Kostunica and the then premier Zoran Djindjic, who was assassinated on March 12 this year. Last week, the Serbian parliament was dissolved and an early parliamentary election was called for December 28. This last Sunday's elections for the Serbian president, the third in slightly more than a year, failed again due to a low turnout. (hina) rml