All "opposition press" carried yesterday not at all peaceful message by the leader of the Democratic party to the president of the SPO Vuk Draskovic, that SPO will "pay dearly" for its participation in the elections; this statement indicates that the Democrats will indeed run an antielection campaign, but against their former allies from the "Zajedno" coalition as Draskovic had predicted...
Borba's assessment is that the decision of the Main Council of the Democratic party is "a logical move", having in mind the "huge number of political failures of its president Zoran Dindic during the last few months".
The paper points out that Dindic has had "five failures", one of which is that Dindic failed to "unite the former coalition 'Zajedno' under his leadership" and his attempt to portray himself as a "cornerstone of the democratic popular front for changes".
Borba includes among Dindic's failures his "unprecedented travels to European capitals seeking support for the overthrow of the regime" as well as the "second hand busses affair".
"In spite of everything, instead of participating in the elections and testing the real strength of his party," the leader of the Democrats "announces anti-election campaign," Borba concludes in the article entitled "Dindic's own goal".
On the other hand, Vuk Draskovic, president of the Serb Renewal Movement, emphasizes that the parties which choose to boycott these elections, "boycott the future of this country, they boycott their fatherland, they boycott the need for Serbia to pull herself out the mud and resurrect herself."
Draskovic claims that the boycott is mostly directed against SPO; commenting the statement by Richard Holbrooke who advised the local opposition parties against boycott, Draskovic emphasizes that Holbrooke had "some information which was probably provided to him by my colleagues from the opposition who claim that there is no single TV station in Serbia where they can present their programs."
"Holbrooke said that he had been informed that Studio B was under the control of the Socialists," said Draskovic.
Yesterday's papers carry the statement by the president of the Democrats Zoran Dindic that SPO will "pay dearly" for its decision to participate in the elections.
The leader of the Democrats claims that "SPO is participating in a scene which is against the mentality of that party," and adds that "SPO is an extra-institutional force which is now loyal to the regime".(...)
Dindic threatened his supporters with expulsion from the party if they participate in the elections.
"If Milan Paroski takes part in the elections, he will be expelled from the Democratic Party," says Dindic and adds that "Paroski cannot be a faction in the DS because the elections are too serious a matter to allow the existence of factions".(...)
Trpkovic emphasized at a press conference that SPO will participate in the electoral process in order to "give Serbia an opportunity to choose"; he expressed hope that other democratic parties will also decide to participate in these elections.(...)
"The policy of the Socialist Party of Serbia proved itself in the direst conditions in the history of this country. The Socialist party has avoided all the traps set by the separatists from the former Yugoslavia in cooperation with the international conspiracy whose goal was to weaken Serbia and Yugoslavia in order to be able to manipulate with this part of the Balkans," stated at the today's pre-election promotion in Kacanik, president of the Provincial Council of the Socialist Party of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohija, Vojislav Zivkovic.
(...)"Here in Kosovo and Metohija, at the very south of Serbia, today we need to publicly say that our country never sought to isolate itself from the international community and that she is still open to all manners of cooperation with the world. One shouldn't forget that in the most difficult conditions we managed to preserve peace in Kosmet by following stable and consistent policy and prevented the Albanian separatists from starting a war in this part of the Balkans," indicated Vojislav Zivkovic and added that Serbia will not change its policy with respect to Kosovo and Metohija. "That policy is based on the constitution and laws and was never in doubt. Our basic principles are peace, prosperity, equality of all citizens, respect for their rights, but also the preservation of the territorial integrity of our country and in this region. With daily investment in the development of Kosmet, Serbia demonstrates that it will not give up this territory at any cost. Let me remind that president Slobodan Milosevic has recently stated here, in Kosmet, that no outside pressure can force Serbia to cede even an inch of Kosmet soil. These words were used by the statesman whose policy has brought freedom to Kosovo and Metohija and corrected many historic injustices in this region."(...)
According to him, these elections are much more democratic than the previous ones.(...)