Milan Milo{evi} POLITICAL GUIDE TO SERBIA 2000 Media Center, Beograd, 2000 Press Documents Edition Milan Milo{evi} POLITICAL GUIDE TO SERBIA 2000 + DIRECTORY OF YUGOSLAVIA For the Publisher: Hari [tajner Translation: Spomenka Gruji~i} Proofreading and Editing: Steve Agnew Book Design and Layout: Neboj{a ^ovi} Cover Design: [kart Printed by: Standard 2, Belgrade Number of copies: 500 Published by: Media Center, Belgrade, Makedonska 5 ISBN 86-82827-14-x This book was finished on July 27, 2000, when elec- tions were called for the president of Yugoslavia, the Federal Parliament, representatives in the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, as well as for local governement bodies in Serbia. Content Foreword . 11 1 Social and Political Background . 15 1.1 The Vicious Circle of Kosovo . 18 1.1.1 Plebiscitary Authoritarianism . 21 1.1.1.1 Four Pillars . 25 1.1.2 Fear of Losing the State . 26 1.1.2.1 The "Anti-Serb Conspiracy" . 27 1.1.2.2 "Alternative Serbia" . 29 1.2 Three Deadlocks . 31 1.2.1 The Crisis of the Gazimestan National Policy . 32 1.2.2 The Crisis of the Eastern Policy . 34 1.2.3 The Crisis of the Pro-West Policy . 37 1.3 The Techniques of Rule . 39 1.3.1 Constitutional Blockade . 39 1.3.1.1 Milo Djukanovi}: The Most Appropriate Opponent . 42 1.3.2 Obstacles to the Work of the Parliament . 43 1.3.3 The Elimination of Decency . 44 1.3.4 Changes in Election Rules in Election Year . 45 1.3.5 Growing Confusion . 46 1.3.6 Corruption . 47 1.3.7 The Promises of the Regime . 47 1.3.8 Violence . 48 1.3.8.1 Assassinations . 48 1.3.8.2 Prosecution of Otpor members . 49 1.3.9 Raids on the Civil Sector . 50 1.3.9.1 The University under State Control . 50 5 1.3.9.2 Banning Rebellion . 51 1.3.9.3 Anti-Intellectualism . 51 1.4 The Devastated Society . 52 1.4.1 Recession . 52 1.4.1.1 Extent of Poverty - Extremely poor: 462,000; Poor: 6,186,000; Wealthy: 6,500 . 53 1.4.1.2 The Unemployed . 54 1.5 Entropic Subjection . 54 1.5.1 Loss of Support . 56 1.5.2 Partial Success of Non-Parliamentary Means of Struggle . 58 1.5.2.1 Election Boycotts . 58 1.5.2.2 Strikes . 59 1.5.2.3 Petitions . 60 1.5.2.4 Protests . 61 1.5.2.5 Student Rebellion . 62 1.5.2.6 The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Political Arena . 62 1.5.2.7 Generals in Politics . 64 1.5.2.8 Civil Parliaments . 66 1.6 Media . 68 1.6.1 Technically Destroyed State-run Media . 71 1.6.2 Independent Media: Surviving with Difficulty . 72 1.7 The Network of Trade Unions . 76 1.7.1 The State Union of Independent Labour Unions . 76 1.7.2 Nezavisnost Trade Unions . 77 1.8 The Network of NGOs . 78 1.8.1 Expert Groups . 79 2 The Party System . 81 2.1 Relevant and Irrelevant Parties . 83 6 2.2 The Ruling Bloc . 84 2.2.1 The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) . 84 2.2.1.1 Slobodan Milo{evi}: Playing for High Stakes . 91 2.2.2 The Yugoslav United Left (JUL) . 94 2.2.3 The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) . 99 2.2.3.1 Vojislav [e{elj: A Red-Black Heat . 105 2.3 The Opposition Bloc . 107 2.3.1 Parliamentary Opposition . 107 2.3.1.1 The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) . 109 2.3.1.1.1 Vuk Dra{kovi} - The Vigil of the Victim . 117 2.3.1.2 The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) . 120 2.3.1.2.1 Vojislav Ko{tunica - The Shadow Candidate . 121 2.3.1.3 The DAN Coalition . 123 2.3.1.3.1 New Democracy (ND) . 123 2.3.1.3.2 The Democratic Center (DC) . 126 2.3.1.3.3 The Democratic Alternative (DA) . 127 2.3.2 Non-Parliamentary Opposition . 129 2.3.2.1 The Alliance for Change (SZP) . 129 2.3.2.1.1 The Democratic Party (DS) . 133 2.3.2.1.1.1 Zoran Djindji} - Action and Manoeuvre . 139 2.3.2.1.2 The Civil Alliance of Serbia (GSS) . 140 2.3.2.1.3 New Serbia (NS) . 145 2.3.2.1.4 The Movement for a Democratic Serbia (PDS) . 146 2.3.2.1.5 Social Democracy . 149 2.3.3 The Alliance of Democratic Parties - Regional Parties . 150 2.3.3.1 The Vojvodina Coalition of 1997 . 151 2.3.3.2 The [umadija Coalition . 153 7 2.3.4 Political Representation of the Kosovo Serbs . 154 2.3.5 Coordinators . 155 2.3.5.1 Experts . 156 2.3.5.1.1 Dragoslav Avramovi}: Mascot or Platform Magician? . 156 2.3.5.1.2 Mladjan Dinki}: Before the Deadline . 157 2.3.5.2 Voices from the Diaspora . 158 2.3.6 Ethnic Minority Parties . 159 2.3.6.1 The National Council of Hungarians . 159 2.3.6.2 The Sand`ak Coalition . 162 2.3.6.3 The Albanians of South Serbia . 166 2.3.6.4 Kosovo: Disloyal Opposition . 166 3 The Election Labyrinth . 169 3.1 Ruling Coalitions . 171 3.1.1 Informal and Formal Cooperation between the Regime and the Opposition . 174 3.2 Opposition Coalitions . 175 3.2.1 The United Opposition of 1990 . 176 3.2.2 DEPOS - 1992 . 177 3.2.3 Depos II - 1993 . 177 3.2.4 The Parallel Parliament - 1996 . 177 3.2.5 Zajedno - 1997 . 178 3.3 Causes of Opposition Disputes . 178 3.3.1 Results: The Road to the Presidency Blocked, Parliament Stalled . 180 3.3.1.1 1990: The Year of the First-Round Knockout . 181 3.3.1.2 1992: The Year of the New Old State . 182 3.3.1.3 1992: The Year of DEPOS . 182 3.3.1.4 1993: An Introduction to Dayton . 183 3.3.1.5 1997: The Zajedno Coalition's First Trophy . 184 8 3.3.1.6 1997: Dispelling the Winter Dreams . 185 3.3.1.7 1999-2000: The Never-Ending Unification of the Opposition . 187 3.4 Who Votes for Who . 193 3.4.1 Public Opinion in Serbia A Logical Confusion . 194 3.4.2 Voters' Choices: 1997-1999 . 195 3.4.3 Undecided Voters and the Opposition . 196 3.4.3.1 Poorer Citizens: A Pillar of the Regime . 197 3.4.3.1.1 The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) . 198 3.4.3.1.2 Serbian Radical Party (SRS) . 199 3.4.3.1.3 The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) . 199 3.4.3.1.4 The Alliance for Change (SZP) . 200 3.4.3.1.5 The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) . 202 3.4.4 Most Trusted Politician: 1993-1999 . 202 4 Conclusion . 205 5 Election Results . 211 5.1 Serbian Presidential Election, December 1990 . 213 5.2 Elections for the Serbian Parliament, 1990-97 . 214 5.3 Overview of Election Results in Serbia: 1992-97 . 216 9 10 Foreword Gatekeeper So NATO dropped its smart bombs on the people of Yugoslavia. What Milan Milo{evi} did instead was to sit down and completely rewrite his political guide through the jungle called Serbia. He rewrote it fully for many reasons. Last but not least of these was that Milo{evi} is among the few jour- nalists with the kind of professional pride which would never allow them to keep on touching up their old works, almost stereotyping their own articles. So what is first and foremost here is that Milan Milo{evi} is much more than just “your chronicler”, the title he modestly gives himself. He is a journalist with a special talent for analysing facts and assembling them into a whole which makes sense, as well as for synthesising what many see as fragments of life or, perhaps, a frag- mented life. The fact which could be labelled the NATO- Yugoslav War put the political events dealt with by Milo{evi} in his first guide into quite a different per- spective. He is far more ambitious here. His new guide is actually a rather effective attempt to see into the mind of a nation and a society which are hardly aware of how they survive, rather than a skilfully crafted sequence of stories about political parties, mass protests, elections, political bargains or the changeable positions taken by the key political players. 11 Because of this, I believe the first part of his Guide, under the title Social and Political Background, is most valuable, not only for people arriving in Serbia for the first time, but also to those who earn their living in this country by thinking and writing about this nation, this political system, this Slobodan Milo{evi}, this opposi- tion, these wars, the migrations and so on. Here, Milo{evi} leans on wise and expert sources. He knows the right questions to ask them and how to effectively summarise their words into a political mosaic of Serbia. So this inventory of the “network of options” character- istic of this specific nation and this specific society is presented by “your chronicler” with figures as well as a list of people who know how to interpret all these phe- nomena and whose authentic expertise has not been marred by the media and their perpetual attempt to bring some wisdom into this chaos of our everyday life.