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Nato on alert for Yugoslav elections

September 23, 2000
Web posted at: 4:56 AM EDT (0856 GMT)

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- NATO is on high
alert in the Balkans in case of violence as
Yugoslavs prepare to go to the polls to pass
judgement on President Slobodan Milosevic.

Campaigning for Sunday's election -- the first in
which voters in Yugoslavia have been able to
choose their president -- has ended with
Milosevic trailing opposition candidate Vojislav
Kostunica in opinion polls.

NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson has
urged Yugoslavs to hand Milosevic a stinging
defeat, expressing fears that unless the outcome
is decisive, Milosevic may falsify the results.

But Yugoslavia's ambassador to Moscow has said
that the Yugoslav president will respect the election
result no matter what the outcome.

Borislav Milosevic, who is also the president's older
brother, said Milosevic would uphold the
constitution.

He said: "Those who predict that Slobodan
Milosevic will cling to power and will not respect
the outcome of the elections are wrong. Slobodan
Milosevic has respect for the constitution."

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic had
previously said that even if Milosevic lost he could
stay in office until the end of his term in June 2001.

Many observers say Milosevic might manipulate the
outcome of the election to stay in power and avoid
trial for crimes committed in the ethnic wars that
have ravaged the region.

And Robertson said: "He's done it before and will
likely do it again. Such an outcome would be a
tragedy for Europe.

"I hope the people of Serbia use the opportunity
they have to accept the welcome Europe extends to
them if they turn there backs on the politics of
ethnic hatred.

"I hope they'll make it impossible for him to pretend
he has won when he has lost."

But Robertson declined to comment on what
NATO "might or could do" should Milosevic fake a
victory.

Borislav Milosevic denounced what he called pressure on the voters by the United
States and European Union to throw out the current president.

He said: "A lot of lies about the Yugoslav leadership are being spread around.
Open and shameless pressure is being applied on the Yugoslav people so they
vote against President Milosevic.

Tensions running high

"It is like a sword being raised over the heads of our voters."

The European Union demanded an explanation from Yugoslavia on Saturday
about reports that a number of foreign journalists have been told to leave the
country before the elections.

The request was delivered by Sweden, acting EU president in Belgrade, to a
senior Yugoslav foreign ministry official at a meeting with foreign diplomats in
the Yugoslav capital.

The Foreign Ministry official promised a reply by Monday, the day after the
vote,
said a spokesman for the Swedish government.

Tension in the region is running high
before the elections, which see nationalist
hardliners up against pro-democracy
reformers.

Opposition parties are urging Yugoslavs
to gather in squares on Sunday evening to
await results, which are expected to start
coming in a few hours after the polls
close.

Voters will choose a president, the two
chambers of Yugoslavia's parliament and
municipal authorities.

Four main political parties and coalitions are in the race, but the main
contest is
between Kostunica's bloc and Milosevic's Socialists.

If no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote for president, a run-off must be
held
two weeks later.

On Friday a convoy of about 20 cars, under armed protection from Norwegian
peacekeeping troops, left Kosovo carrying a few dozen Serbs left in isolated
pockets of the war-torn province.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority is ignoring the ballot.

Slovenia, which broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, is advising its citizens not
to travel to Yugoslavia around the time of Sunday's federal elections.

And in an open letter to Milosevic the Western-backed prime minister of Bosnia's
Serb republic urged him to quit power after a 13-year rule.

"It's time for you to leave, Slobodan," said the piece by Bosnian Serb Prime
Minister Milorad Dodik published in the Bosnian Serb daily Nezvisne Novine.

Montenegro's government meanwhile is playing down the shooting of an off-duty
policeman by a Yugoslav military policeman near the capital of Podgorica, saying
it was an isolated incident.

The pro-Western leadership of the coastal republic, which together with Serbia
comprises the Yugoslav federation, is boycotting the elections.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.