http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=204587

Kostunica Won In First Round, Serb Radicals Say

BELGRADE, Sep 29, 2000 -- (Reuters) Hard-line Serb leader Vojislav Seselj
said on Thursday that opposition challenger Vojislav Kostunica had won outright
in
Sunday's presidential election and rejected the idea of a runoff vote on October
8.

Signaling a deepening split in the ruling coalition, Seselj - a deputy prime
minister in
the Serbian government - said Kostunica had defeated Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic and accused the authorities of election fraud.

"We shall not take part in the second round. We'll go to the Constitutional
Court
with proof of election fraud," regarding results of the Radical Party, its
leader told a
news conference.

Milosevic, fighting for his political life, has called a second round of
elections
against Kostunica, ignoring growing calls by the opposition and Western leaders
to
accept defeat.

The opposition say Kostunica won by a majority and on Wednesday rejected
taking part in any new round of voting.

Seselj also called for the resignation of Serbia's interior minister, a senior
ally of
Milosevic.

He said Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic should resign for misusing the
police
for political ends during the campaign for Sunday's federal presidential and
parliamentary election.

Seselj said his party's 83 deputies in the Serbian assembly would request the
dismissal of the interior minister.

"I don't believe there is any party in parliament which would not be in favor of
the
dismissal of Vlajko Stojiljkovic," he said.

Stojiljkovic is a member of Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party, which is still
formally
in coalition with Seselj, although Seselj's party ran separately in the
elections.

Seselj also said police had failed to find the owner of a truck that crashed
into a
convoy of cars carrying opposition politician Vuk Draskovic last October, in
what
Draskovic has called an assassination attempt by the authorities.

His call came after Draskovic, whose Serbian Renewal Movement controls 45
seats in parliament, on Wednesday urged the Radicals to help him oust the
government in Serbia.

The two parties - which both showed poorly in Sunday's elections - would
together command a majority in the Serbian parliament, giving them the power to
carry a no-confidence vote.

But Seselj appeared to rule out any such move in the immediate future, saying it
would only create chaos.

"We think it would be wrong to disband parliament and government immediately,"
he said, expressing concern that his party would do badly if Serbian elections
were
held soon.

"Do you think we should give them (the opposition) a chance to wipe us off
immediately at the republican level as well," he said.