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June 28, 2004
ERP KiM Newsletter 28-06-04b Serbian pro-West reformer voted in as president - Serbian good-bye to the forces of the past REUTERS: Serbia turned its back on a generation of right-wing chauvinism and looked forward on Monday to a clear path to the European mainstream under the leadership of newly elected president Boris Tadic, a pro-Western liberal.  | | Glass of champagne on hearing the news of a victory
New democratic Serbian President Boris Tadic (center) celebrates his victory - the widow of the assassinated Serbian premier Djindjic joined the celebration (right) | | Reformist Tadic elected president of Serbia
BELGRADE, June 28 (AP) _ Pro-western reformist Boris Tadic was elected president of Serbia on Sunday, defeating hard-line nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in the presidential runoff.
Tadic, 46, a psychologist, will hold the presidency for five years. ''Serbia won today. This is not my victory. It is a victory of our ideas of our European future,'' Tadic told his supporters.
Tadic got 53.5 percent of the vote and Nikolic 45.1 percent, according to the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, an independent monitoring group. The Election Commission will announce the official result by July 1.
Nikolic conceded his defeat and congratulated Tadic. The runoff followed a first round two weeks ago contested by 15 candidates.
The election result means a ''defeat for the policy of violence, destruction and confrontation,'' Tadic said, referring to his rival, whose advocacy of a ''Great Serbia'' was feared likely to bring new tensions to the Balkan region.
Serbia has been without a president since 2002, when Milan Milutinovic, a close ally of ousted President Slobodan Milosevic, surrendered to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague to stand trial on war crimes charges.
Serbian pro-West reformer voted in as president
By Stephen Coates
BELGRADE, June 28 (AFP) - Pro-West reformer Boris Tadic defeated his nationalist rival in a crucial presidential run-off election in Serbia, unofficial results showed
Sunday, confirming the Balkan republic's orientation toward Europe.
Speaking after his apparent election as the first non-communist president of Serbia since World War II, Tadic pledged to seek greater integration with Europe.
"Serbia's path to Europe has no alternative," he told reporters.
According to unofficial results given by the republic's electoral commission and estimates by independent monitors, Tadic won around 53 percent of Saturday's vote compared to nationalist Tomislav Nikolic's 45 percent.
Nikolic conceded defeat after monitors from the Centre for Free and Fair Elections declared themselves content that Tadic, leader of the Democratic party (DS) of slain prime minister Zoran Djindjic, had won a five-year term.
"I congratulate him (Tadic) on the election," Nikolic told reporters at his Serbian Radical party (SRS) headquarters, adding that "the fight was bitter."
Tadic's supporters took to the streets of Belgrade and many other towns in Serbia late Sunday in a spontaneous outpouring of relief and celebration.
"Serbia has finally begun thinking. I am happy that we have caught the train for Europe," said one of them, Srdjan.
Several thousand gathered in central Belgrade Terazije street, shouting "Victory, victory!" backed by the sound of blaring car horns and singing from DS voters.
Speaking to his supporters, Tadic dedicated his victory to Djindjic, killed by sniper fire in front of the government building in March 2003.
"This is the victory for you, Zoran (Djindjic) and for your life," he said, as the crowd shouted the name of the slain leader.
Tadic's victory will be welcomed by European Union leaders who warned before the election that the former Yugoslav republic was at a crossroads between a European future and a return to international isolation.
Geoffrey Barrett, head of the European Commission Delegation to Serbia and Montenegro, told AFP that Tadic's victory "is a very good result for Serbia and for democracy in Serbia."
"We at the EU are very, very happy with this result," he said.
The United States was also watching the election closely, with the State Department issuing a statement Saturday calling on Serbia's 6.5 million voters to "support the democratic reforms that started October 5, 2000".
That was the day former nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic, who presided over a decade of war and international sanctions in the 1990s, was ousted from power in a popular uprising.
Asked about Serbian cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal, a key issue for the republic's integration into the European structures, Tadic said that "there is no dilemma over that issue."
"I have said a thousand times and I will repeat once again: we have to cooperate with the tribunal," Tadic said.
The outcome of the election comes as a relief to the West, whose officials feared that Nikolic as president would halt political and economic reforms in the country, launched after Milosevic's ouster almost four years ago.
Nikolic's SRS are ideological stablemates of Milosevic, who is now standing trial for war crimes at The Hague, like another Radical Party leader, Vojislav Seselj.
Nikolic toned down his nationalist rhetoric ahead of the election but still spoke of suspending cooperation with the war crimes tribunal and opposing Western-style economic reforms designed to encourage foreign investment.
He also refused to renounce his ideas of a "Greater Serbia" encompassing territory in neighbouring Bosnia and Croatia, insisting "that doesn't mean there has to be war" as there was in the 1990s.
"Serbia will have a president today. My victory will return its honour and dignity," he said after casting his vote in Belgrade.
Nikolic shocked outside observers when he won the most votes in the first round of voting on June 13, when neither candidate won the required majority. The Radicals also became the largest party in parliament in December general elections.
But Tadic was given a major boost when he won the backing of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose Democratic Party of Serbia has, until now, been locked in a destructive power struggle with the DS.
Kostunica also congratulated Tadic, saying that the polls on Sunday "showed that Serbia is slowly, but surely, walking towards the democratic society."  | | Serbia says final "No" to the legacy of Milosevic's past
With a new democratically oriented President Serbia traced its future towards
stability, peace and European integrations | | Serb vote halts feared slide back to nationalism
By Douglas Hamilton
BELGRADE, June 28 (Reuters) - Serbia turned its back on a generation of right-wing chauvinism and looked forward on Monday to a clear path to the European mainstream under the leadership of newly elected president Boris Tadic, a pro-Western liberal.
News of his victory on Sunday evening filled the centre of Belgrade and other major cities with jubilant crowds waving banners, scattering confetti and honking car horns.
"This is not my victory but the victory of a shared idea of Serbia's European future,'' said 46-year-old Tadic.
"The way people voted reconfirmed that Serbia's destiny was irreversibly determined by October 5, 2000'' -- the day strongman Slobodan Milosevic was toppled at the end of a decade of war.
Tadic won by 1.7 million votes to 1.4 million or 53.7 percent to 45.1 percent. He said getting Serbia fit for European Union membership would define his five-year mandate.
Analysts said his defeat of hardline nationalist Tomislav Nikolic gives Serbia fresh resolve to carry out reforms begun four years ago with the defeat of Milosevic but stalled by internal disputes that broke up the democratic front.
Western powers, watching Sunday's vote with trepidation, had feared that divisions at the centre plus the murder of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic in March 2003 and a nationalist backlash against reform could drag Serbia back into isolation.
In a telling concession statement, Nikolic said his opponent ``won thanks to the votes of ethnic minorities'' -- a sample of the rhetoric, along with his ``dream of a Greater Serbia,'' that evidently convinced rival parties they had to back Tadic.
GOODBYE TO FORCES OF THE PAST?
It was thanks to a splintered centre that Nikolic's Radicals became Serbia's strongest party in a general election six months ago. But they could not find a partner for government then, and now they have lost their shot at the presidency.
Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, twice an assassination target when Milosevic ruled with Radical backing, said this should prove to the United States and the European Union that "the forces of the past'' cannot stop Serbia's democratic renewal.
Tadic will be working with a centrist government led by conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a rival with a shaky minority coalition. The question is how well he can get it to cooperate with his own opposition Democratic Party.
He has said he has no intention of provoking a snap election to capitalise on Sunday's victory for party political gain.
It was Serbia's fourth bid to choose a head of state in two years. After ex-president Milan Milutinovic surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in late 2002 three subsequent elections failed due to low turnout, before that rule was scrapped.
Tadic says cooperation with the Hague tribunal is a must even if many Serbs, especially Radicals, think it incurs the dishonour of handing over generals to what they see as a biased court.
That would mean the arrest or surrender of three generals indicted by the tribunal who have refused to give themselves up and who are, so far, untouched by Kostunica's government. TOP
Belgrade Media Update 27-28 June
Sunday, 27 June 2004
Reconstruction of Serb houses commences in Prizren (Balkan)
Kosovo Minister for Culture Bejet Brayshori and the President of the Prizren municipal assembly Ehrem Krueziu marked in Prizren the beginning of the reconstruction of four Serb houses torched during the March unrest. "There are some 200 houses in Prizren that are presently in the phase of reconstruction, while the same number of houses had been repaired. The rest of the houses are in the phase of receiving tenders. I inform the owners of the houses to come to their properties and complete the remaining work, but not only in Prizren, throughout Kosovo as well," said Brayshori. When it comes to the reconstruction of churches and monasteries in Kosovo, Brayshori said that the government is ready to help and established a fund for the restoration of cultural-historical facilities throughout Kosovo.
Japanese arrested (Blic/FoNet)
International police members have arrested a tourist from Japan in northern Kosovska Mitrovica. The police have searched the room of the Japanese tourist and detained him afterwards. Regional UNMIK police spokesperson Romea Ponzas has confirmed to FoNet that the tourist from Japan had been detained and that an investigation is underway. The tourist shot forbidden premises in northern and southern Kosovksa Mitrovica.
Kosovo problem most difficult in the region (Glas/Tanjug)
Regional partners of SCG, among them EU member-countries as well, are very much engaged in the Kosovo problem since they agree in the assessment that the "Kosovo issue" is the greatest challenge to the stability of the region, the aide to SCG foreign minister Ljubisa Perovic told Tanjug. When it comes to the current political image of the region, all Balkan countries agree that the greatest challenge to the stability of the region is the "Kosovo issue" and an "unavoidable topic of all regional gatherings," especially after the March violence against Serbs in the province, said Perovic, who manages the sector for regional initiative and coordination in the foreign ministry.
Vidovdan celebration without Serbs (Vecernje Novosti)
Five years since the expulsion of Serbs from Pristina and quarter of a million of them from Kosovo, Vidovdan (the Kosovo Battle anniversary) will be officially marked in the province for the first time. The organization of the celebration has been taken on by the Pristina University in northern Kosovo, while its dean, professor Radivoje Papovic, who initiated renewed marking, invited more than 300 prominent local and foreign guests, among them his holiness Patriarch Pavle as well.
KP awaits guarantees (Glas)
KP has not registered to take part in the parliamentary elections planned for October as it is awaiting guarantees from the international community. According to KP caucus whip Dragisa Krstovic, it has been agreed during recent talks between KP members and the Serbian premier that they should not take part in the elections at any cost. "We have agreed that it is necessary to receive political concessions first from the international community. Only then would we enter Kosovo institutions and take part in the elections," said Krstovic.
SPOT on Kosovo elections (Glas)
SPOT leader Momcilo Trajkovic considers there exist no conditions for Serbs to take part in the Kosovo parliamentary elections in October, but SPOT has registered its participation because they dont want the scenario of two years ago to be repeated when voters were presented with an accomplished act, said Trajkovic. He says that registration doesnt also mean participation in the elections, but an intention to draw the attention of the public that there are other forces in Kosovo as well.
Monday, 28 June 2004DS leader and presidential candidate Boris Tadic has won in the second round of the Serbian presidential elections. According to the first estimates by CeSID, at 60% of the processed electorate, 53,5% of the voters, i.e. 1,690,000 people voted for Tadic. Tomislav Nikolic received 1,430,000 votes or 45,1% of the total turnout. According to CeSID estimates, voter turnout is 48,5%. The Republican Electoral Commission will announce the final results of the presidential elections on Wednesday.
Tadic hails return to reform (B92)
A jubilant Boris Tadic said that his victory in Serbias presidential elections confirmed the road that Serbia chose on October 5, 2000, with the toppling of the Milosevic regime. "Now we need a modern and powerful constitution which will be the real basis for our future," said the new president-elect. "It is important to emphasize that this country does not stay outside European integration, does not stay outside regional and security integration," said Tadic. "The greatest form of patriotism is the fight for a better standard of living for our citizens. Im not a politician who dreams great dreams, Im a reserved man. I want to conduct realistic politics, the politics of what is really possible," he added.
Tadic explained his view of a better life in Serbia as being more than better standards of living for all citizens. "A better life also means normal communication among political parties and political opponents. A better life also means a powerful attack on corruption and criminals. "A better life means that criminals dont get two or three years in prison for brutal criminal acts, drug dealing, harassing and humiliating other people, such has happened a few days ago. "A better life means that the courts do their work, so that justice is done. A better life means that we live in a normal society which respects human rights," said Tadic.
Small turnout by Albanians (Glas)
Albanians have symbolically responded to the invitation by PDP leader Riza Halimi to "give their contribution to the democratization of Serbia." As in the past, they voted in small numbers and only in mixed regions in Bujanovac and Presevo, while there was not even a control ballot in the voting boxes of many ethnically clean Albanian villages until 1 p.m.
Irregular lists in Kosovo (Blic)
Zoran Lucic of CeSID has stated that 2,710,000 voters, i.e. 41,5%, turned out to vote by 7 p.m. in the final round of the Serbian presidential elections, which is half percent less than in the previous electoral round. Smallest turnout of 31,2% was in Kosovo. Electoral lists for the Kosovo region are irregular, CeSID observers opine. "Despite our warnings, more than 10% of the people who had never voted since the early 90s are on our lists, nor are lists of voters made by Belgrade accepted," CeSID coordinator for Kosovo Milena Jaksic stated.
Covic requests extradition of Musliu (Vecernje Novosti/FoNet)
The Head of the CCK Nebojsa Covic has told FoNet that "perhaps conditions had been created to extradite former commander of the Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac Liberation Army, Sefcet Musliu, to Serbian judicial bodies." The CCK has already sent the request for extradition, said Covic. Such an agreement was reached with former UNMIK heads Harri Holkeri and Michael Steiner, said Covic.
Bishop Artemijes statement on Vidovdan (Politika/Beta)
The Raska-Prizren Bishop Artemije has stated in Gracanica on the occasion of the celebration of the anniversary of the Kosovo Battle that "Serbs are celebrating the 615th historical Vidovdan and the fifth in new slavery." "Difficult conditions, strong will and hope made us survive five hundred years under Turkish slavery and five years in new slavery," said the bishop at the Vidovdan session, expressing hope that "Serbs will welcome the following Vidovdan in better freedom."
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