BELGRADE, Oct 11 (Hina) - Around 6.5 million Serbian voters will decide if Serbia will elect a new president in a presidential run-off this Sunday and if the winner will be the incumbent Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica or
Vice-Premier Miroljub Labus.
BELGRADE, Oct 11 (Hina) - Around 6.5 million Serbian voters will
decide if Serbia will elect a new president in a presidential run-
off this Sunday and if the winner will be the incumbent Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica or Vice-Premier Miroljub Labus. #L#
No one can say with certainty if the voter turnout will be the same
as in the first round, when more than 50% of the electorate went to
the polls, which is a requirement for elections to be valid as
regulated by the constitution which dates back to Slobodan
Milosevic's regime.
It is also unknown how the voters who two weeks ago voted for nine
other candidates would vote on Sunday. This particularly refers to
those who voted for radical leader Vojislav Seselj, who, to the
dismay of the public and analysts, won around 22% of the vote.
Like his colleague from the right wing, Borislav Pelevic, president
of (Arkan's) Party of the Serbian Unity (which won four percent of
the vote), Seselj, too, called on his voters to boycott the
elections. Seselj's supporters are known for great discipline in
following his instructions.
Analysts, who competed with opinion polls in the first round, did
not give many forecasts in the past 15 days as they could not predict
if enough voters would go to the polls.
Still, some of them are confident that Kostunica is the favourite,
not only because a large number of those who in the first round voted
for candidates other than himself and Labus could vote for him, but
also because he has strongly criticised the government of Zoran
Djindjic which insists on reforms whose effects have not been felt
by ordinary citizens yet. At the same time, this was a criticism of
his rival Labus, a member of Djindjic's Democratic Party and a
representative of an extremely reform-oriented group in the
incumbent government.
Hence different interpretations of what will happen in case of an
insufficient turnout - Labus claims that reforms will come to a
halt, while Kostunica believes that without a president Serbia will
not be a constitutional country, which will postpone the adoption
of a new constitution.
While Labus promises reforms and cooperation with Djindjic's
government, without excluding the possibility of an early
parliamentary election, Kostunica has been adamant from the
beginning about the need to elect also a new government, to care
more about ordinary citizens and social policy.
If the elections fail, the new ones could be held at the end of the
year. On 5 January 2003, the incumbent Serbian president and future
Hague inmate Milan Milutinovic's mandate expires. Between the end
of Milutinovic's mandate and new elections the presidential post
would be held by the chairwoman of the Serbian parliament, Natasa
Micic, which would enable Prime Minister Djindjic to rule some more
without major problems.
However, even if a new president is elected, an early election seems
increasingly probable, especially in case of Kostunica's victory,
due to a months-long crisis which ensued after Kostunica's
Democratic Party of Serbia deputies in the Serbian parliament were
stripped of mandates. Even if they are given back their mandates,
the question of the parliamentary majority supporting Djindjic
will crop up again and an early election will become even more
certain.
The first results of the Sunday vote will be known shortly before
midnight on Sunday.
(hina) rml