Kosovo Serbs Loyal to Milosevic

By Elena Becatoros
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Sept. 25, 2000; 3:27 p.m. EDT

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Yugoslavia -- President Slobodan
Milosevic made his name in Kosovo, and Serb voters in the troubled
Yugoslav province rewarded him with their support in an election crucial
to his survival as a leader.

Preliminary results Monday from Yugoslavia's presidential and
parliamentary elections indicated that Serbs in Kosovo voted
overwhelmingly to keep the autocratic leader in office, although significant
irregularities clouded the outcome of the vote.

Milosevic first made his mark in this southern Serb province on a visit to
Kosovo Polje in 1987 to hear Serb complaints of abuses by the ethnic
Albanian majority. In a fiery speech, he told the Serbs, "No one should
dare to beat you."

Yet under his rule, Kosovo's Serbs lost nearly all they had.

Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian militants prompted NATO's
78-day bombing campaign last year, forcing the Yugoslav president to pull
his army and police forces out of the province. Since then, tens of
thousands of Serbs have fled, fearing revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians.

Those who stayed have faced lives of isolation and economic stagnation.
In predominantly Serb areas like the northern part of the ethnically divided
town of Kosovska Mitrovica, people survive on meager pensions or civil
service salaries paid by Belgrade.

Yet support for Milosevic ran high among people who see him as the one
person willing to stand up to the West - even if he failed to keep control
of the province. Many Serbs see their nation as the victim of Western
imperialist policies and their leader as the one man bold enough to take on
the world.

Although complete results from Sunday's vote were not immediately
available, early figures showed Serb areas overwhelmingly supported
Milosevic, rather than opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica.

"Let the best man win - Slobodan of course," said Nada Ravtovski, 70, a
retiree living in the northern part of the city since she was forcibly evicted
from her home in the Albanian-majority southern sector. "We are all with
him."

Many Serbs who didn't share this view never got into the polling places.
Opposition members and young people who may have voted for
Kostunica were omitted from voter registration lists, opposition officials
said, while people who had been dead for years appeared on the lists.

Privacy was lacking at polling places throughout northern Kosovo, where
voters had to mark their ballots while sitting at desks in full view of the
electoral board. In some districts, ballots never arrived, and in other
places, polling stations never opened.

Even with irregularities taken into account, Milosevic clearly has pockets
of support here, which he's likely to retain.

"I believe 100 percent he will help all Serbs go home. He will give us
double apartments and double salaries," said Vesna Vuckovic, 23, as she
sat in her kiosk in Kosovska Mitrovica. "NATO is responsible for the
current situation, not him."

© Copyright 2000 The Associated Press