Subject: Montenegro backs Kostunica's presidential victory
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 9:40:20 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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PODGORICA, Yugoslavia, Sept 28 (AFP) - The tiny Yugoslav
republic of Montenegro came out in support Thursday of opposition
presidential candidate Vojislav Kostunica, Montenegrin Premier Filip
Vujanovic said Thursday.
"The presidential vote is over for us and Kostunica is a
winner," Vujanovic, top ally of reformist and pro-Western
Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, told reporters.
According to official results presented by the federal election
commission early Thursday, Kostunica beat incumbent Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic in the first round polling but failed
to gain the absolute majority needed to avoid a run-off.
But Kostunica and the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS)
which has backed his candidacy, ruled out the second round,
threatening civic disobediance and general strike.
Vujanovic said that the DOS "has the right to use all democratic
means to respect the will of the citizens."
Djukanovic's ruling coalition urged a boycott of Sunday's vote
in protest at hasty changes made to the Yugoslav constitution by
Milosevic's government, which severely reduced the status of
Montenegro within the Yugoslav federation.
Podgorica insisted the amendments would diminish the republic's
influence in the federal institutions.
Despite the boycott, the government of Montenegro, which has a
population of only 650,000, had offered cautious support to
Kostunica.
With Djukanovic's ruling coalition having opted to boycott the
polls, only parties allied with Milosevic had taken part.
The pro-Belgrade Socialist Peoples' Party of Yugoslav Prime
Minister Momir Bulatovic won most of the 50 seats alloted to
Montenegro in the two-chamber federal parliament, and Milosevic's
Serbia's ruling coalition insisted the two allies had an absolute
majority in the future assembly.
Vujanovic said he expected Kostunica "to dismiss the (outgoing)
federal parliament in order to reclaim the constitutional violence
which were the basis for calling of these illegal elections."
Since taking office in 1998, Djukanovic has paved a way to the
virtual independence of the country, introducing the German mark as
the alternative currency last year, and failing to observe decrees
and drafts issued by Milosevic's government.
His leadership has urged equal relations with Belgrade and
warning that Montenegro might take a step forward towards an
independence from if its demands were not met.
Vujanovic urged Kostunica to "launch talks over redefinition of
relations between Serbia and Montenegro, to set them on healthy
basis."
"We call for the integration and we will talk with the DOS over
preserving the federation in which Serbia and Montenegro would be
equal," Vujanovic said.
He insisted that a "team of experts" who would tackle the issue
should be formed "as soon as possible."
In case such talks failed, Montenegro would have the right "to
decide over its fate in a referendum" on independence, Vujanovic
said.