Serbs Dump Milosevic Party in Vote - Projection

Serbs voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to sweep Slobodan Milosevic's party out of government, depriving it of its last major lever of power, according to a projection by local election monitors.

The projection, based on a representative sample of polling stations, gave the DOS reform alliance backing new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica 64.3 percent of the vote for Serbia's parliament. Milosevic's long-mighty Socialists were forecast to win just 13.3 percent.

The forecast, by Belgrade's Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), backed up opinion polls which had predicted another win for the reformers who defeated Milosevic in federal elections in September and forced him out with a mass uprising.

If the projection is confirmed, the reformers will have a sweeping mandate in Serbia, the dominant republic in the Yugoslav federation, which has been left in tatters by a decade of war, isolation and corruption under Milosevic.

But the forecast also showed the continuing appeal of Serbian nationalism, with a party founded by slain Serb warlord Arkan standing a chance of entering parliament with 5.7 percent of the vote -- above the required five percent.

Pollsters said the projection should prove accurate for main parties, while the figures for Arkan's Party of Serbian Unity could still fluctuate.

The figures gave another ultra-nationalist group, the Radical Party, 8.6 percent of the vote and Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement, previously a leading anti-Milosevic party, just 3.5 percent.

Serbian Government Is Key

Kostunica and his allies have been active at federal level renewing Yugoslavia's ties with the world but they knew their ability to affect Serbs' daily lives would be severely limited until they also captured the powerful Serbian government.

The government runs much of economic and financial policy and has control over Serbia's estimated 85,000-strong police force, a feared instrument of the state under Milosevic.

The reformers had been confident for weeks of forming the first Serbian government not led by the Socialists or their communist predecessors since World War Two.

``The main thing starts after the election, which means introduction of reforms, raising the population's living standard and creation of conditions for normal life in this country,'' Zoran Djindic, the reformers' candidate for prime minister, said after voting.

Voting for the 250 members of Serbia's parliament ran from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. on a cold, clear day. Around 6.5 million people were eligible to cast a ballot.

Results filtered in from more than 8,000 polling stations through the night and official figures were not expected until Monday -- a working day in Orthodox Serbia -- at the earliest.

The monitors said turnout was lower than anticipated at 58.7 percent, based on their forecast. It was also much lower than the 70-plus percent in September's historic election.

Polling Stations In Darkness

Analysts had predicted a weaker turnout as the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) alliance backing Kostunica was so widely expected to win easily.

Monitors also suggested that power cuts that have plagued Serbia in recent days had deterred voters in some regions.

``Some polling stations are in the dark, without candles,'' Marko Blagojevic, the head of CESID, told reporters.

He said there had been fewer irregularities -- insignificant in numbers and nature -- than in September. Serious allegations of vote-rigging often accompanied elections under Milosevic.

Kostunica and his autocratic predecessor Milosevic, whose turbulent 13 years in power ended with a futile attempt to rig the September result, voted in separate parts of Belgrade.

``This is only a continuation of the work that started in September,'' said Kostunica, who has acted quickly to end Yugoslavia's international isolation since he came to power.

A relaxed-looking Milosevic made no comment to waiting reporters when he voted with his wife Mirjana Markovic in the exclusive Dedinje suburb where the couple live, only saying he wished citizens a happy new year.

The new rulers face tough challenges -- to stem economic collapse, stop Kosovo violence spreading into Serbia proper, deal with war crimes and demands for Milosevic to face an international trial, and prevent the breakaway of estranged small republic Montenegro from the Yugoslav federation.

Shaky Kosovo Vote

In Kosovo, a province in U.N. hands since 1999 when NATO (news - web sites) bombing drove out Yugoslav forces, the election passed off peacefully although some polling stations did not open and turnout among remaining Serbs there was low.

In the village of Gracanica, near the regional capital Pristina, the few people who came to vote on a freezing day said their action was a symbolic gesture to underline that the U.N.-run province was still part of Serbia.

The move to allow Serbs to vote enraged members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who want independence for the formerly Serbian-dominated region and fought Belgrade for it in 1998-99.

In southern Serbia, where police have been attacked by ethnic Albanian rebels near Kosovo's boundary, local Albanian parties did not take part, saying they would not be able to get the five percent of the vote they need to win parliament seats.

Novelties in what many said would be Serbia's first truly free and fair vote included transparent ballot boxes, an invisible security spray and compulsory signing of voter lists. (Agencies)






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