[ALBSA-Info] Vojislav Kostunica: A Modest Giant-Killer

[Iris Pilika]

Vojislav Kostunica: A Modest Giant-Killer
September 29, 2000
Web posted at: 1036 GMT


(TIME.com) -- Vojislav Kostunica is a humble, scholarly man, almost entirely 
lacking in the charisma and bombast of other Serbian opposition leaders.

But that seems to have been just fine with Yugoslav voters last Sunday, who 
appear to have given the 56-year-old former law professor a stunning 
first-round victory over Slobodan Milosevic (even if Milosevic remains in 
denial).

He may be less charismatic than his rival oppositionists, but unlike them 
Kostunica has never had any dealings with Milosevic's government or with the 
Western countries widely disdained, if not despised, in Serbia since last 
year's NATO bombing campaign.

He's a straight arrow with simple tastes -- he drives a battered old Yugo -- 
untainted by ties with the mafias that have prospered in the Milosevic era.

His campaign traded, more than anything else, on his honesty. "Who can look 
you straight in the eye? Kostunica," says one of his key campaign slogans. 
But given that much of the West's battle with Slobodan Milosevic over the 
past decade has been over Serbia's violent relations with its neighbours in 
the former Yugoslavia, some of Kostunica's honesty may not be entirely 
comforting to NATO leaders.

There's no doubting his credentials as a democrat -- during his academic 
career he once translated "The Federalist Papers," and was one of the 
earliest public advocates of multiparty democracy in communist Yugoslavia -- 
or his firm commitment to liberal economics.

Moreover, he's firmly committed to integrating a post-Milosevic Serbia into 
the European Union.

But Kostunica has always been a staunch Serb nationalist and has 
consistently criticised Yugoslavian leaders for compromising the rights of 
the Serb minorities in the neighbouring republics.

Kostunica was fired from his teaching job at the University of Belgrade in 
1974 after publicly criticising Tito's decision to give greater 
constitutional autonomy to Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Kosovo on the 
grounds that this undermined the position of the Serb minorities in those 
territories.

Ironically, that was the same issue on which Milosevic himself rode to 
power, revoking Kosovo's autonomy in 1989 and fomenting rebellion by 
nationalist Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.

But Milosevic also ushered in multiparty politics, and Kostunica helped 
found the Democratic party, from which he broke in 1992 because it was 
insufficiently nationalist.

He created the Democratic Party of Serbia, which, after a brief alliance 
with the conservative Serbian Renewal Movement of the mercurial Vuk 
Draskovic, found itself playing a marginal role in Serbia's parliament until 
1997.

He was most noted in this era for denouncing Milosevic's acceptance of the 
U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accords, but mostly stayed out of the 1996-97 
showdown on the streets between Milosevic and an opposition alliance headed 
by Draskovic.

But the fractious personality squabbles that looked set to hobble the 
opposition when Milosevic declared a surprise election in the summer gave 
Kostunica an opportunity.

With many of its better-known leaders compromised by their conspicuous 
personality clashes or ties with either the regime or the West, the 
opposition alliance -- an ideological patchwork whose components range from 
monarchists to monetarists -- settled on Kostunica as the man most likely to 
beat Milosevic, particularly after the latter's defeat in Kosovo, a defeat 
with which Kostunica has berated Milosevic throughout the campaign.

While he's been signaling his intention to take a democratic Serbia into 
Europe, Kostunica has been harshly critical of NATO (which includes the bulk 
of EU members).

He slammed Washington's decision earlier this year to establish an office in 
Hungary to assist the opposition as interference in Serbia's affairs, and 
has no plans to extradite Milosevic for trial in the Hague.

But if Kostunica isn't exactly NATO's dream candidate, his commitment to 
democracy and to a European Serbia give the Western alliance plenty of 
grounds for confidence that it could find political solutions to any 
disagreements with the chosen leader of the Serbs.

That's if Milosevic allows him into power.

Copyright © 2000 Time Inc.


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