BELGRADE, Oct 14 (Hina) - New presidential elections in Serbia will be called this week, as only 45.5 percent of a total of 6.5 million eligible voters turned out in the second round of a presidential ballot, the head of the ruling
DOS bench, Cedomir Jovanovic, said late on Sunday.
BELGRADE, Oct 14 (Hina) - New presidential elections in Serbia will
be called this week, as only 45.5 percent of a total of 6.5 million
eligible voters turned out in the second round of a presidential
ballot, the head of the ruling DOS bench, Cedomir Jovanovic, said
late on Sunday. #L#
According to unofficial data, 45.5 percent of the voters came to the
polls, of whom 66.7 percent or close to two million, gave their
votes to moderate nationalist Vojislav Kostunica, while 31.3
percent or 930,000 voters voted for liberal economist Miroljub
Labus.
Yugoslavia's incumbent President and Serbian presidential
candidate Vojislav Kostunica late last night blamed the election
failure on a poor electoral law, disorganised voters' lists, and
the electoral boycott staged by several political parties.
Kostunica said radical Vojislav Seselj, Mirjana Markovic's
Yugoslav Left Wing, Arkan's Party of Serb Unity, and the Democratic
Christian Party of Serbia, a member of the DOS coalition, were to
blame for a public boycott. He also accused Zoran Djindjic's
Democratic Party of "a secret boycott".
Kostunica said voters had recognised his programme, which consists
of a constitutional reorganisation of Serbia and the adoption of
laws necessary for economic and every other form of progress.
"I saw the end of the Broz regime, as well as of the Milosevic
regime, and I will see the end of the Djindjic regime, which is
shedding its fake feathers of democracy," Kostunica said, slamming
the Serbian government and the ruling DOS for withdrawing MP
mandates to his Democratic Party of Serbia in the republic's
parliament.
He said this issue must be solved before a constitutional charter of
Serbia and Montenegro was completed and electoral laws amended.
Labus congratulated Kostunica on the good results at the election,
but stressed that the election failure would have "a negative
effect on country's reputation".
He said that many politicians in Serbia needed to think about why
more than 50 percent of the voters failed to go to the polls in the
second round of the presidential election.
Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said that instead of
calling new presidential elections, it would be better to first
adopt a new law on elections, maybe even wait for a new Serbian
Constitution and hold new presidential elections in six months or a
year.
The president of the Yugoslav parliament's Lower House, Dragoljub
Micunovic, maintains that the electoral results have confirmed
Kostunica's being the most popular politician in Serbia.
Serbian Vice Premier in charge of Kosovo Nebojsa Covic advocates
amendments to the electoral law and revoking a provision
implemented by Slobodan Milosevic under which more than 50 percent
of registered voters must go to the polls in both rounds of a
presidential ballot.
The Yugoslav National Bank governor, Mladjan Dinkic, who is also a
member of Labus' electoral headquerters, said the results showed
that "Serbia has once again given a chance to Vojislav Seselj".
Dragan Marsicanin, the head of Kostunica's electoral headquarters,
said that two million voters who voted for Kostunica were not
represented in Serbia's parliament and government.
Therefore, on behalf of the Democratic Party of Serbia, he demanded
that urgent extraordinary parliamentary and new presidential
elections be called. He also demanded amendments to the electoral
law and a revision of the lists of voters.
(hina) it sb