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U.S. Tries to Influence Yugoslav Election: Indian Observers
India's Samata Party, a member of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, accused Thursday the United States of "trying to influence" the Yugoslav presidential elections, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
The party, two leaders of which were among the nine Indian observers to monitor the Yugoslav elections, also criticized the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Cable News Network (CNN) for their "blatantly biased" coverage of the elections, the report said.
"The Washington Post reported that the U.S. administration pumped in 77 million U.S. dollars into Yugoslavia to see the end of President Slobodan Milosevic. Washington has also reportedly said that sanctions against the country will not be lifted if Milosevic was re-elected", Samata Party spokesman S. S. Srivastwa was quoted as saying.
"The U.S. is certainly trying to influence the voters by such actions and statements," he noted.
Accusing the BBC and CNN of "blatantly biased coverage" before and during the elections on Sunday, the two Samata leaders said: "We are critical of the role of the BBC and CNN in making truth a casualty."
Contrary to apprehensions that elections would be rigged, "they were held in a free and fair atmosphere," they said.
In addition, the fairness could be judged from the fact that Milosevic polled only 40.23 percent of votes in the elections against 48.22 for his rival Vojislav Kostunica.
"The free, fair and cheap election (in Yugoslavia) has many lessons for India to learn," said Brahmanand Mandal, one of the two leaders and member of Indian parliament.
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