[ALBSA-Info] Cautious West Casts Doubt on Yugoslav Election/Opposition Supporters Gather in Serbian Towns/Yugo Opposition Says Part-count Gives It Big Lead/Milosevic's Party Says He Leads 44-41 Pct in Vote/NATO Ships off Yugoslavia amid Poll Tension -paper

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

1. Cautious West Casts Doubt on Yugoslav Election
2. Opposition Supporters Gather in Serbian Towns
3. Yugo Opposition Says Part-count Gives It Big Lead
4. Milosevic's Party Says He Leads 44-41 Pct in Vote
5. NATO Ships off Yugoslavia amid Poll Tension -paper
6. Britain's Cook Welcomes High Yugo Election Turnout


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#1.
Cautious West Casts Doubt on Yugoslav Election

By Paul Taylor

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Western governments cast doubt on the conduct of 
Yugoslavia's presidential election on Sunday but remained cautious about the 
outcome as both supporters and opponents of President Slobodan Milosevic 
claimed success. 

The United States, which has given high priority to ousting Milosevic from 
power, said reports of irregularities raised grave doubts about the validity 
of the vote, but the European Union was more wary of making any early 
judgment. 

``We have serious doubts about the credibility of this process,'' U.S. 
National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a telephone 
interview. ``The irregularities that have been reported today certainly cast 
doubt on the credibility of this process.'' 

U.S. officials cited media restrictions and Milosevic's refusal to allow 
international observers to witness the vote. 

Crowley said Sunday's vote -- the most serious electoral challenge to 
Milosevic in 13 years in power -- had been marred by intimidation of voters 
through a heavy police presence and requirements that voters show their 
completed ballots. 

He said Washington would await further indications of the outcome before 
commenting further. 

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the high turnout showed that the 
people of Serbia ``have seized the opportunity to vote for their democratic 
rights despite repeated systematic attempts by the Milosevic regime to bully 
and intimidate them.'' 

EU MINISTERS CONFER 

He said Milosevic had ``lost the campaign and the argument -- he must not now 
cheat once again and award himself the result.'' 

European Union ministers conferred by telephone late into the night, pooling 
their analysis and reports from local and foreign observers, but officials 
said they would make no statement before Monday. A French Foreign Ministry 
spokesman said Russia was also involved in the talks. 

Earlier on Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato pledged to continue 
sanctions against Yugoslavia if Milosevic won Sunday's election by unfair 
means. 

``If Milosevic steals the elections, we will openly say he has stolen the 
elections,'' Amato said. ``A sort of illegal outcome gives political and 
legal grounds for the continuation of our sanctions against him.'' 

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it was too soon 
to talk of an opposition victory, despite claims by opposition leaders that 
their candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, had a big lead over the Belgrade 
strongman. 

In the run-up to the poll the EU had pleaded with Serbian voters to turn out 
and vote and oust Milosevic, indicted by the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. 
The EU has promised to lift sanctions on Belgrade if the opposition wins. 

The ruling Socialist Party said Milosevic led Kostunica by 50.28 percent to 
30.76 percent, based on preliminary data from around 300 polling stations. 

RIVAL VICTORY CLAIMS 

Opposition leader Zoran Djindjic said earlier that of 70 polling stations 
across Serbia out of a sample of 300 chosen because they were deemed 
representative, Kostunica had won in 63 and Milosevic in seven. 

Ousting Milosevic, 59, has been a top Western goal since the United States 
and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombed Serbia last 
year to end alleged ``ethnic cleansing'' in Kosovo, a province of Serbia. 

Western governments say there can be no true peace in the Balkans while he 
remains in power. 

But they fear that Milosevic -- who has survived military routs in Bosnia, 
Croatia and Kosovo -- may seek to cling to power even if he is defeated by 
opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica, who is leading in the polls. 

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has said alliance forces are on alert 
in the Balkans, but the U.S. and British defence ministries played down an 
increase in naval, air and ground forces in the area as part of long-planned 
exercises. 

Two hundred U.S. Marines are set to begin an amphibious exercise with 
Croatian forces near Split on the Croatian coast on Monday. Romania, another 
neighbour of Serbia, is also holding joint exercises with NATO forces. 

Last year the West imposed an oil embargo, financial sanctions and a ban on 
visas for Milosevic's associates as punishment for Yugoslavia's policy in 
Kosovo. 


#2.
Opposition Supporters Gather in Serbian Towns

By Branimir Pipal

BELGRADE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in 
downtown Belgrade, many celebrating and shouting ``victory, victory'' as they 
listened to early results from Sunday's crucial elections. 

The opposition rallies in Belgrade and other Serbian towns were much bigger 
than hastily organised pro-government concerts following the polls, in which 
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic faced the biggest challenge yet to his 
13-year rule. 

Both the opposition and Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party said they were 
ahead in the presidency race, according to partial and preliminary results. 
Official results are expected to be issued sometime next week. 

In Belgrade, riot police stood between the two groups, which had gathered 
less than 100 metres (yards) from each other as an opposition official read 
out election results from a balcony. 

But they later withdrew, reducing fears of any clashes. 

Around 5,000 opposition supporters remained in downtown Belgrade until the 
early morning hours on Monday, with music blaring and people dancing. 

``Look how happy people are when they see even such a small sign of 
victory,'' said one of them, 25-year-old Pedja. 

``HE'S FINISHED'' 

``I don't know what the regime is going to do next. I'm afraid they could 
make some sort of wrong move, do something violent, but even if they do, I 
don't believe it would change their fate. He's finished,'' he said, meaning 
Milosevic. 

Maja, 24, said she believed the opposition had won: ``It became obvious when 
the police withdrew together with these regime musicians. I hope they won't 
come back.'' 

The rally was called off at around 3:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) with a new gathering 
set for Tuesday evening. 

In the northern city of Novi Sad, around 10,000 opponents of the Serbian 
strongman gathered on Sunday evening, while about 500 government supporters 
attended a concert. The situation was similar in other towns. 

In Belgrade, hundreds of people had earlier gathered in front of a huge 
stage, set up by Serbian State Television, to hear folk songs from local 
groups. 

But that crowd later dwindled to at most 100. Opposition supporters jeered at 
them and sang songs mocking Milosevic. 

In the town of Kragujevac, around 5,000 opposition supporters attended a 
rally. A concert organised by Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party and the 
Yugoslav Left led by his wife Mirjana Markovic attracted about 500. 

NO SIGNIFICANT VIOLENCE 

Similar turnout figures were reported from the town of Cacak, an opposition 
stronghold, and Kraljevo. 

Earlier, opposition official Cedomir Jovanovic said the rallies organised by 
the authorities were a ``signal that they will try to provoke something,'' 
adding that the opposition rejected all responsibility. 

In the eastern town of Pozarevac, the home town of the Milosevic family, 
around 30 people pelted 150-200 opposition supporters with stones in front of 
opposition premises, the independent Beta news agency said. 

A fight broke out, and the opposition supporters said they had been attacked 
by Socialist Party officials. 

But there were no signs of any large-scale violence, as some had feared there 
would be if police cracked down on demonstrators after the elections. 

``There will be nothing from the authorities tonight. The ruling left is now 
in a state of panic,'' said Bratislav Grubacic, editor of the VIP independent 
newsletter. ``They don't know how to come out with the real result because 
they know Kostunica is winning over Milosevic.'' 

Zarko Korac of the opposition Social Democratic Union took a similar line, 
saying: ``I think we have passed the stage of possible violence and the only 
thing the authorities can do now is annul the election results.'' 


#3.
Yugo Opposition Says Part-count Gives It Big Lead

BELGRADE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Serbian opposition said its presidential 
candidate Vojislav Kostunica so far had 57 percent of votes in Sunday's 
Yugoslav presidential election, with ballots counted at 45 percent of polling 
stations. 

Cedomir Jovanovic, a spokesman for the Democratic Opposition of Serbia bloc 
grouping 18 political parties and one trade union, said early on Monday that 
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic stood on 33 percent. 

Earlier, Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party said some hours after polls 
closed at 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) that the president had a wide lead over 
Kostunica. Milosevic had been clearly behind in independent pre-election 
opinion surveys. 

According to the Socialists, Milosevic led Kostunica by 50.28 percent to 
30.76 percent, based on preliminary data from around 300 of 10,000 polling 
stations across Yugoslavia. 

The ultra-nationalist Radical Party, once a member of Milosevic's ruling 
coalition but now estranged from it, complaining of unfair treatment, put 
Kostunica ahead by 49.5 percent to 40.44 percent with more than 600,000 
ballots counted. 


#4.
Milosevic's Party Says He Leads 44-41 Pct in Vote

BELGRADE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The ruling Socialist Party of Yugoslav 
President Slobodan Milosevic said on Monday he was leading opposition 
candidate Vojislav Kostunica by 44 percent to 41 percent with more than 
940,000 votes counted. 

``We still think that our presidential candidate is in the lead and we think 
the voting can end in the first round,'' said Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister 
Nikola Sainovic, a leading Socialist Party official. 

He said ballots cast at 2,478 of more than 10,000 polling stations across 
Yugoslavia had been counted. 

Earlier, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, Kostunica's backer, said that, 
with votes counted at 45 percent of polling stations, he had 57 percent 
against 33 percent for Milosevic. 

There are 7,861,327 eligible voters in Yugoslavia, which consists of Serbia 
and Montenegro. 


#5.
NATO Ships off Yugoslavia amid Poll Tension -paper

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - A NATO armada including 15 ships from Britain is 
in the Mediterranean amid tension over elections in Yugoslavia, the 
Independent newspaper said on Monday. 

But the British Ministry of Defence said the presence of British ships was 
not intended to warn Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic against using 
violence to remain in power if he were defeated in the election. 

``Britain has a number of ships in the area but they are not in the area to 
send anyone a message,'' a spokesman said. 

HMS Invincible was in the Mediterranean ``filling a capability gap'' and HMS 
Ocean's presence in the area had been planned ``months ago,'' the spokesman 
added. The Yugoslav presidential election timetable was set several months 
ago. 

On Friday NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson told Milosevic not to 
rig the elections and said NATO's troops in the Balkans were on alert. 

Robertson said NATO peacekeeping troops in neighbouring Kosovo, whose 
interests the Western powers defended with air strikes on Yugoslavia last 
year, and in Bosnia were on alert. 

NATO forces in the Balkans have been reinforced and U.S. Marines will hold 
previously scheduled joint exercises with Croatian forces on Monday, but the 
United States has said no ``special'' military activity is going on. 

Romanian troops are currently participating in exercises with NATO forces. 


#6.
Britain's Cook Welcomes High Yugo Election Turnout

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he was 
pleased at the high turnout in Yugoslavia's presidential and parliamentary 
elections on Sunday and warned President Slobodan Milosevic not to cheat when 
counting the votes. 

``I am pleased at the high turnout in the elections in Yugoslavia today. This 
shows that the people of Serbia have seized the opportunity to vote for their 
democratic rights despite repeated systematic attempts by Milosevic to bully 
and intimidate them,'' Cook said. 

``Milosevic must allow the votes to be counted honestly. He lost the campaign 
and the argument -- he must not cheat again and award himself the result,'' 
Cook added in a statement. 

Opposition estimates put the turnout in Serbia at 75 percent. Government 
officials in Montenegro, where the pro-Western government called for a 
boycott of the polls, put the turnout there at 23.77 percent.