"We decided to adopt another feature of the pre-war organization of the local authority in Cacak and establish a City Advisory Board; experienced public workers and experts, who have retired, will sit on that board. As its name indicates, the Board will have an advisory character and will serve as a sort of a "control" and "filter" for the local government and city hall; the Advisory Board will give opinion on all proposals to the local authorities," said Velimir Ilic, newly elected mayor of Cacak.
Ilic also explained that he would propose at the first session of the Alliance of Free Cities (which will include 30 municipalities and will be chaired by Ilic), that the Alliance establish a similar advisory body, comprised from the most respected people from all parties, but excluding all party leaders.
In the recent local elections, the Socialists suffered probably the worst defeat in Cacak ("Zajedno" coalition won 57 mandates, independent candidates 5 and the Socialists eight). In the first round "Zajedno" won 26 mandates, while in the second round the score was 29:0 for the opposition.
"This is not a coincidence. All opposition parties, under leadership of the district organization of the Serbian Renewal Movement, worked very diligently. Every detail was planned and all of us worked as one. Togetherness was the recipe for Cacak and it should be nurtured and developed as a method which produces results," said Branko Popovic, a member of "Zajedno" coalition.
"Our election campaign lasted four years. We co-operated with all opposition parties and even celebrated new years with the local Radicals. First we established several strong private companies and then, economically united, linked together and helped each other. Not only in Cacak but also with the companies in Uzice and Kragujevac.
"We gathered the best experts in various fields; we even have several bankers. We've had more than one hundred visits by the financial police [Serbian IRS], and they never found anything illegal. After that, during the campaign we visited every house, every village, bought loudspeakers for public events, established a radio station, "OZON Radio", and even managed, for a lot of money, to present our candidates on one of the two local Television stations; the station, "TV Galaksija" was banned soon after that.
"After we managed to break through the media blockade, the whole city was with us and we knew that we were going to win," said Velimir Ilic, newly elected mayor and a high ranking official in the local Serbian Renewal Movement; by profession he is a civil engineer and for more than 16 years he has run a contracting company.
That hard work resulted in a victory in the local elections. The Socialists helped by compromising their party so much that people simply had enough of them.
Newly elected mayor of Cacak emphasized: "there have been enough empty words, promises and various illegal acts by the Socialists. We can wait no more! Uzice, Kragujevac and Cacak must fight together for new people and a new way in politics.
Radio "Ozon" has a work force of five people and broadcasts on 91.2 MHz. It has reached notoriety as soon as it started to report on the election campaign and election results in Cacak and Moravicki district, as well as the events all over Serbia, with direct broadcasts from Nis, Uzice, Pirot, Kraljevo and Belgrade. This radio station has made a contract with Radio Free Europe which allows it to broadcast RFE news programs, as well as with the Belgrade radio station B92, whose two news programs, "Nocnik" and news at 5 p.m. are also broadcasted. At the moment they are working on a similar contract with the BBC program in south Slavic languages.
"Ozon" became even more famous when, on November 29, the station was visited by a federal inspector and two policemen. He delivered an order to cease broadcasts. "He told us that, despite court registration, we must submit a technical project for the radio station and seek a permit from the ministry of information and [state-controlled] Radio Television Serbia. They also told us that if any one of the two permits is denied, we would not be allowed to resume broadcasting," explained Markovic.
Interruption of the station's program has caused strong reactions among the citizens of Cacak and the following day (and following five days) they "gave a permit" to "Ozon" to resume broadcasting. They said: "It's easier to breathe with 'Ozon'".
Editor-in-chief, Stojan Markovic said that he didn't know what would happen next. He was told that he would be sued and the station definitely banned. "I sincerely hope that that will not happen as it would only provoke another angry reaction from our listeners," added Markovic.
"The founding of 'Ozon' in our city was a very important event in the history of journalism, especially since almost all electronic media [in Serbia] are controlled by the ruling party. We are not like the other stations, we have a lot of contact programs, and try to provide correct information and news. We directly reported from the demonstrations in Cacak and Belgrade, and our listeners can talk 'live' in our program. They phone, ask questions, express their opinions. We do not try to interpret events but simply try to report news and leave it to our listeners to interpret the news and reach their own conclusions," said Vesna Bjelic, a Radio "Ozon" journalist.