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Sun Jul 27, 7:54 AM ET |
By Fredrik Dahl
BELGRADE (Reuters) - He failed twice in 2002 to win the Serbian presidency and his job as Yugoslavia's head of state disappeared when the bloodied federation ceased to exist.
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But Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites) is still Serbia's most popular politician, according to a recent opinion poll, and the former Yugoslav president hopes to return to power soon.
The self-styled moderate nationalist who helped oust Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) says Serbia is heading for a winter of social discontent and predicts Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, his political opponent, will face growing calls for early elections.
Zivkovic took office after the assassination in March of close ally Zoran Djindjic, a pro-Western politician who had a long history of rivalry with Kostunica although the two men united to topple Milosevic in 2000.
"The government is going to be in greater and greater problems and demands for elections will increase," Kostunica said in an interview at the headquarters of his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). "The economy is not functioning."
He said parliamentary elections, which must be held by the end of 2004, would help bring stability to a political scene riven by feuding. Serbian politicians accuse each other almost daily of corruption and links with organized crime.
SERB SQUABBLING
Kostunica, whom Djindjic often accused of hindering political and economic reform after Milosevic's downfall, said the government was trying to avoid the ballot box by all means.
"Milosevic was manipulating when he was in power but he had courage enough to risk elections," said the mild-mannered law professor, who looks younger than his 59 years.
Kostunica played an important role in removing Milosevic after a decade of Balkan wars and Western isolation, defeating the Serb strongman in elections for the Yugoslav presidency three years ago.
But the anti-Milosevic movement soon split amid wrangling between Kostunica and Djindjic, who was gunned down outside the main government building in Belgrade on March 12.
Conservative Kostunica generally showed a more cautious approach toward change than the pragmatic Djindjic and was also reluctant to cooperate with the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague (news - web sites), which indicted Milosevic and his top officials.
In what Kostunica has called a witch-hunt against his party, police in April arrested two allies and accused them of links with the gang believed to have masterminded Djindjic's murder.
Security adviser Rade Bulatovic and former military intelligence chief Aco Tomic have since been released. "That case does not exist...there is no evidence against them," Kostunica said.
Djindjic's Democratic Party (DS), which dominates the ruling coalition, saw a surge in popularity after the killing.
But an opinion poll published in mid-July suggested Kostunica's DSS regained the number one spot, with support of 16.3 percent compared with 14.5 percent for the DS.
A new party called the G17 Plus, grouping ex-central bank chief Mladjan Dinkic and other economic liberals, also did well with 14.7 percent backing.
"HONEST BUT INDECISIVE"
Kostunica does not rule out post-election cooperation with either party, saying he believes most people in Serbia favor reform which takes into account social needs and want closer ties with the rest of Europe.
Leading pollster Srdjan Bogosavljevic said Kostunica's support was well below the record levels it reached after Milosevic fell but many Serbs still saw him as honest and patriotic. But he is also regarded as slow and indecisive, Bogosavljevic added.
A senior Western diplomat in Belgrade said a government led by the DSS would likely be more nationalistic and less inclined to hand over any fugitives to the Dutch-based U.N. tribunal, such as wartime Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic.
"They would like to be seen as safeguarding the interests of the Serb people," the envoy said, making clear his belief it would be bad news for the West.
Kostunica came out ahead in two Serbian presidential elections last year, but both were declared invalid because voter turnout did not reach the legal minimum of 50 percent.
He stepped down as Yugoslav president in February when the federation was replaced by a loose union of its two member republics, Serbia and Montenegro, which he helped negotiate.
Kostunica rejected allegations that he blocked pro-democracy and pro-market reforms while he and Djindjic shared power, saying he had insisted only that the rule of law had to come first.
"He was very able, efficient, full of energy," Kostunica said in praise of his slain rival. But he suggested Djindjic had neglected new laws needed to underpin the changes. "That is where we differed. That's why he was saying I was slow."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=572&ncid=811&e=1&u=/nm/20030727/lf_nm/serbiamontenegro_kostunica_dc
