[ALBSA-Info] West Bounces Milosevic Towards Poll Exit

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

West Bounces Milosevic Towards Poll Exit

By Paul Taylor, Diplomatic Editor

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Western governments declared on Monday that 
President Slobodan Milosevic had lost Yugoslavia's election and should go, in 
a concerted drive to undermine him even before disputed official results are 
announced. 

Germany and Britain both said reliable evidence pointed to a massive win in 
Sunday's poll for opposition challenger Vojislav Kostunica. Italy warned of 
``devastating consequences'' if Milosevic claimed victory and clung to power. 

The United States said it doubted Milosevic, indicted by a U.N. tribunal for 
alleged war crimes in Kosovo, could make any ``credible claim of victory'' 
because of public support for the opposition and voting irregularities. 

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told a joint news conference with Russian 
President Vladimir Putin in Moscow: ``We agreed...that it looks as though 
Serbia and Yugoslavia have decided in favour of democratic change.'' 

But Russia, Serbia's main international ally, parted company with the West in 
saying the voting had been fair and declining to prejudge the outcome of the 
most serious electoral challenge to Milosevic's 13-year rule. 

The 15-nation European Union said in a statement: ``According to all 
available information, it is clear that any attempt by Milosevic to declare 
himself the victor would be fraudulent.'' 

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook went a step further, declaring: ``All 
the reliable evidence we have suggests the people voted Milosevic out by a 
massive majority.'' 

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Kostunica appeared to have won 
outright on the first round. 

Official results are not due until Tuesday at the earliest. Partial figures 
from Belgrade's ruling parties, purporting to show Milosevic ahead, raised 
the possibility of a run-off. 

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine sought to portray the opposition tide 
as irreversible. ``Nothing will be the same as before, something has started 
that will not stop,'' he said. 

``FAR FROM DEMOCRATIC'' 

Western governments, eager to oust Milosevic, trod a fine line between 
charging the election was shamelessly rigged and hailing an opposition 
victory against the odds. 

Diplomats said Western strategy was to pile pressure on Milosevic and create 
a climate where any official result other than a victory for Kostunica would 
be widely derided as a sham. 

The chorus of comments was also intended to give heart to Yugoslav opposition 
activists planning street protests to demand the fruits of their 
self-proclaimed victory. 

The head of the pan-European Organisation for Security and Cooperation in 
Europe (OSCE), which was barred by Belgrade from sending monitors, said all 
information pointed to a clear lead for Kostunica, backed by a coalition of 
18 opposition groups. 

``Claims of victory by pro-Milosevic forces are not credible,'' OSCE Chairman 
and Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. 

``These elections were far from democratic, but despite reports of widespread 
fraud and intimidation, the will of the people for change has been 
overwhelming,'' she added. 

Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini told reporters that in the light of 
results coming in from the presidential and parliamentary elections, any move 
by Milosevic to stay in power would be ``fraudulent behaviour.'' 

``If Milosevic were to claim victory...there could be devastating 
consequences,'' Dini said. 

Britain's Cook led the chorus of Western ministers pushing the Serbian 
strongman towards the door. 

``Today Milosevic is a beaten, broken-backed president,'' Cook said. ``My 
message to him today is: 'Be honest with your people. Get out of the way and 
let Serbia get out of the prison you have turned it into.''' 

Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic said last week that Milosevic would 
serve out his term until mid-2001, whatever the result of the election. 

RUSSIA'S SUPPORT SOUGHT 

The EU said the heavy turnout showed the people of Serbia wanted change. 

``They wanted to speak up, regardless of intimidation, manoeuvring, pressure 
and all sorts of manipulation by the Belgrade regime leading up to this 
ballot,'' said the statement drawn up after consultation among the 15 EU 
members. 

Western leaders were keen to enlist Russia's cooperation in ensuring a 
democratic transition in Belgrade. 

But Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was quoted as saying reports from 
those international observers invited by Belgrade showed ``the polls passed 
without major violations.'' 

Moscow joined Western powers, including the United States, in calling this 
month for a democratic Yugoslavia and warning Belgrade against violence at 
home or against Montenegro, the pro-Western junior partner in the Yugoslav 
federation. 

Kostunica, seen as a moderate nationalist, predicted ``certain'' victory for 
himself and said the outcome heralded a new dawn for Serbia, internationally 
isolated over its role in the violent collapse of the old Yugoslavia in the 
1990s.