MILOŠEVIĆ CONCEDES DEFEAT AFTER BELGRADE UPRISING

BELGRADE, 2000-10-06. — Slobodan Milošević tonight acknowledged defeat in Yugoslavia’s presidential election, yielding to the result he had disputed after an extraordinary popular uprising brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators into Belgrade. His televised concession clears the principal obstacle to Vojislav Koštunica’s accession to the federal presidency and brings an apparent end to thirteen years in which Mr Milošević has dominated Serbian political life. “I congratulate Mr Kostunica on his election victory,” he said. Across the capital, where parliament and the state television headquarters were stormed yesterday, celebrations have accompanied the collapse of the President’s attempt to retain office through a second ballot.

The concession followed a meeting between the two men and a day of rapid political and diplomatic movement. Mr Milošević said he had received official information confirming Mr Koštunica’s victory, and wished Yugoslavia’s citizens success during the coming four years. He also spoke of spending more time with his family, while indicating that he intended to remain politically active. The statement was a striking reversal from the authorities’ insistence that the September 24 election had produced no outright winner. It leaves Mr Koštunica preparing to take office, although the transfer of the presidency does not by itself settle control of every institution through which the outgoing leader has governed.

The dispute concerned whether Mr Koštunica had secured the absolute majority required to avoid a run-off. The federal election authorities originally placed him ahead but below that threshold, ordering a second round for October 8. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia, an alliance of eighteen parties supporting his candidacy, rejected those figures and said its own records established a first-round victory. A subsequent Constitutional Court intervention deepened the uncertainty rather than satisfying the opposition. Today the legal position shifted decisively towards recognition of Mr Koštunica as the elected President. The concession tonight gives that finding the public acceptance which Mr Milošević had withheld throughout the crisis.

Yesterday’s events supplied the force behind today’s settlement. Columns of demonstrators arrived from towns across Serbia in buses, lorries and private cars, overcoming roadblocks to join a vast gathering outside the federal parliament. Protesters broke into the building, parts of which were set ablaze, and later overwhelmed the headquarters of Radio Television Serbia, long one of the government’s most important instruments. Police used tear gas in the confrontation, but resistance broke down and some officers fraternised with the crowds. The army did not mount the intervention many had feared. The violence caused deaths and numerous injuries, but the anticipated battle between massed demonstrators and the full apparatus of the state did not occur.

The capital’s uprising was preceded by a widening campaign of strikes and civil disobedience. Particularly important was the stoppage at the Kolubara coal complex, a vital supplier to Serbia’s electricity industry. Efforts to restore government authority there met resistance from miners and large numbers of supporters. Their stand showed that the challenge was no longer confined to opposition politicians or the streets of Belgrade. The student-founded Otpor movement, whose clenched-fist emblem has appeared throughout the country, helped turn hostility towards the President into a nationwide campaign. Its slogan, “Gotov je” — “He is finished” — became the terse expression of an opposition determined that another disputed count should not preserve his rule.

Mr Koštunica, a constitutional lawyer and leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia, has given that disparate opposition a candidate acceptable to voters who might otherwise distrust one another. He is a nationalist and a critic of Western policy towards Yugoslavia, including last year’s NATO bombing, but he has also opposed Mr Milošević’s authoritarian methods. His appeal has therefore extended beyond those who look principally to Western governments for support. The alliance behind him includes liberals, reformers and other opponents united more securely by their demand for a change of government than by a common programme. Its immediate task is to turn that electoral and street unity into an orderly constitutional transfer.

Russia’s Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, arrived in Belgrade today and met both the opposition leader and Mr Milošević. Moscow’s intervention is significant because Russia has maintained relations with the Yugoslav authorities while criticising Western pressure and the NATO campaign. Mr Ivanov brought congratulations from President Vladimir Putin to Mr Koštunica, adding diplomatic weight to recognition of the opposition victory. Western capitals have likewise welcomed the prospect of a democratic transfer. Yet the immediate balance inside Yugoslavia depends not only on foreign recognition but on the conduct of the army, police and senior officials, whose refusal to impose a comprehensive crackdown yesterday proved decisive.

The economic inheritance is formidable. Years of sanctions, the disruption accompanying Yugoslavia’s break-up, and damage from last year’s air campaign have left industry weakened and ordinary households struggling. There is no reliable single market quotation tonight that can measure the importance of the political change to a population accustomed to shortages and insecurity. The more immediate economic prospect is relief from international isolation: Western governments are signalling that a democratic Yugoslavia can expect a different relationship, including reconsideration of sanctions and assistance. Such expectations have strengthened the atmosphere of release, but neither damaged infrastructure nor depleted public finances can be repaired by a presidential concession alone.

Mr Milošević’s departure from the presidency also leaves difficult questions about the machinery of government and his own position. His allies remain entrenched in important offices, and the Serbian republican administration is distinct from the Yugoslav federal presidency. The federation itself comprises Serbia and Montenegro, whose leadership has been sharply opposed to him and whose governing parties boycotted the federal election. Abroad, Mr Milošević remains under indictment by the United Nations war crimes tribunal over Kosovo. Mr Koštunica has criticised that court, and nothing in tonight’s concession resolves the issue. For the incoming leadership, establishing lawful authority without provoking renewed confrontation will be the first test.

For the moment, Belgrade’s prevailing response is celebration rather than an agreed account of what comes next. A government that survived wars, sanctions, earlier demonstrations and NATO bombing has been compelled to acknowledge an electoral defeat after its opponents joined ballots to strikes and overwhelming numbers in the streets. Mr Koštunica must now secure the formal transfer of office, maintain the alliance that brought him victory and begin restoring institutions whose independence has long been questioned. Mr Milošević’s broadcast removes the most dangerous immediate uncertainty: whether he would continue to claim the presidency. It does not remove the considerable work of governing a country emerging from a decade of conflict and isolation.