used without permission, for "fair use" only

Socialists Snatch Victory from the Opposition: Theft of the Century

Nezavisna Svetlost (Internet edition), Kragujevac, FR Yugoslavia, November 19 1996

Although "with bound hands and feet", as opposition leader Vuk Draskovic said about the conditions in which the opposition ran in these elections, the opposition has won in the biggest cities in Serbia: Belgrade [capital], Kragujevac, Nis, Novi Sad, Cacak, Kraljevo, Uzice, Pancevo, Zrenjanin as well as in many smaller towns, even in those in which the Socialists until recently had total control.

The fact that the Socialists remain in power in more than two thirds of municipalities in Serbia, that they won in 15 towns previously run by the opposition, that in some of them they won all the mandates, as was incessantly repeated by the Socialists' spokesperson Ivica Dacic, was not enough to offset the heavy and, it seems, unexpected defeat in Belgrade, Vojvodina and central Serbia; therefore, the Socialists' spokesperson was unable to confirm "glorious news about the victory of the leftist coalition" in this region [as after the federal elections two weeks ago].

Being unable to summon enough strength to honestly accept the electoral defeat in 45 municipalities, the leaders of the Socialist Party of Serbia decided to, at any cost, turn their fiasco into a victory through lies and manipulation. Simply said - they decided to engage in massive fraud and vote rigging!!!

Large Scale Annulment of Elections

In the late afternoon hours on Monday, November 18, electoral commissions in all towns and cities in which the opposition has won were suddenly overwhelmed by the flood of complaints from the Socialists, many of which were so ridiculous that they were sad. Starting with 5-6 complaints early in the morning, by 8 p.m. in some localities there were as many as ubelievable 50 complaints! Only a day before, as was faithfully recorded by TV crews from [the state controlled] Serbia Television, the Socialists kept repeating that the elections were progressing in the best possible manner, honestly and according to the rules. Only the opposition complained.

Only when they realized that the situation was not developing according to their plans, the Socialists forgot about their old election time motto about "bad losers" and reached for the only remaining means to avoid the defeat: large scale annulment of the elections.

While their election headquarters mass produced complaints, and the opposition celebrated victory at the main square, the police increased its readiness and cut off the local government buildings to prevent immediate take over by the opposition. Fortunately, there were no incidents, but not because of the Socialists: it seemed that they were only waiting for an incident, for a spark which would have proved that the opposition is run by "the forces of chaos and madness".

At that moment everyone, even the most naive citizens, realized that democracy is just a nice word used in the speeches of Socialist officials and that power is the only thing they care about and that they will stoop to anything to prevent the opposition from claiming its electoral victory.

What did the [Socialist controlled] electoral commissions do?

Most of them obeyed their masters and on Tuesday, late in the afternoon and early in the evening, they accepted most of the Socialists' complaints, snatching clear victories from the opposition in many towns, especially in those where the opposition coalition "Zajedno" [together] had a small lead over the Socialists. Thus they pulled from the dead many a Socialist official, heads of districts and municipal SPS committees, heads of municipalities who were beaten in the first round of elections by more than 300-400 votes out of 1,000 votes cast.

Protest Rallies All Over Serbia

Several hours long sessions of electoral commissions resulted in the annulment of opposition victories in Nis, Kraljevo, Uzice, Pirot, Smederevska Palanka, Pancevo...; reduction of the number of elected opposition candidates in the City parliament and the municipalities in Belgrade (most blatantly in the municipality of Palilula where, out of 30, the commission confirmed the election of only 8 opposition representatives), in Kragujevac and some smaller towns. At 10 p.m., on Tuesday September 18, when this article was written, the Television reported that in all towns across Serbia, where the opposition had led a few hours before, the Socialists were leading by one to two representatives, while the results from up to ten electoral units were annulled. Although 8 p.m. was the final deadline for the publication of the official results, electoral commissions in many towns were still working at that time. Dissatisfied citizens began to gather in front of the buildings in which electoral commissions were working during that afternoon.

The situation was most dramatic in Nis, where the opposition was most blatantly robbed through forgery and "putting of finishing touches" on the electoral records which were sent from 18 precincts straight to the SPS headquarters, instead of to the electoral commission. Some forgery attempts were so amateurish that anyone could have noticed corrections and additions of 200-300 Socialist votes. After finding out that, out of 41 opposition mandates, the commission had ratified only 26, Nislije [inhabitants of Nis] marched en masse to the main city square. The rally, at which the main opposition leaders, Vuk Draskovic, Zoran Dindic and Vesna Pesic spoke, was attended by more than 30,000 people. Chief of the USA mission in Belgrade [unofficial USA embassy], Richard Miles, urgently left for Nis this morning (We found out from reliable sources that strong Police reinforcements are sent from other towns in Serbia to Nis).

In Kraljevo, the electoral commission was in session the whole day on Tuesday; according to the latest information, from 9 p.m., it has ratified only a half of mandates and left the rest for Wednesday?! At the same time, in the local government building in Kraljevo several opposition representatives in the Serbian and Federal parliament have started a hunger strike.

The Socialists virtually brought Serbia to its feet on Tuesday night and, what an irony, brought the citizens to the streets [during the election campaign the Socialist claimed that the opposition is trying to win power through street riots instead of the ballot box]! Besides Nis, they woke up Kraljevo, Jagodina, Pirot, Smederevska Palanka, Pancevo, Belgrade, Uzice... The night before citizens in 45 opposition municipalities celebrated and on Tuesday loudly protested, threatening to behave like the authorities and to retake by force that which they had legally won in the elections.

Such messages to Slobodan Milosevic from the protest rallies in Nis, Belgrade and Jagodina were sent by the opposition leaders, warning him about the possible consequences of the popular dissatisfaction and informing him that they would not give up even a smallest "bit" of their victory, which they were prepared to defend with all available means.

The capital of Serbia [Belgrade] and towns in which the citizens have gathered are full of policemen. It is believed that the authorities are waiting for an excuse to completely annul the local elections in those localities.

Translated on 11/22/96