Word: kostunica
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sign that the top brass are breaking from Milosevic; rather the statements by General Nebosja Pavkovic that the army would not be ordered to act against the people should be read as coming from Milosevic himself. Some may have speculated that Pavkovic is looking for a place in a Kostunica government, but there's no chance of that. He was Milosevic's choice to head the army, even though he enjoys little support within the ranks. And he actively campaigned for Milosevic...
...fact that the Orthodox Church has come out in support of Kostunica was also to be expected. They actively supported the 1996 protests against Milosevic's attempts to steal the municipal elections...
...claim their prize. After a triumphant opposition rally in Belgrade Wednesday night at which some 200,000 Serbs demanded that Milosevic abandon his plans to force a runoff vote on October 8, the strongman's electoral commission announced early Thursday that its final results showed opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica with 48.96 percent of the vote compared with Milosevic's 38.62 percent - and ordered the runoff poll because Kostunica had failed to clear the 50 percent hurdle for a first-round victory. The opposition and independent monitors, on the basis of its scrutiny of the count at most polling stations...
...Even with the backing of the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church, which on Thursday declared Kostunica the winner and urged a peaceful transition, the opposition has a tough task ahead. Right now they're riding a wave of popular anger that will likely be sustained in the coming days as Milosevic blatantly tries to cheat Serb voters. But Milosevic may be calculating that if he manages to hold his regime together for a couple of weeks of street protest and conduct the runoff without Kostunica, the protests might eventually dissipate in disillusion. The challenge for the opposition, then, is to provoke...
...played the key role in persuading the Serb strongman to back down in Kosovo. Diplomatic efforts are reportedly afoot to coax Milosevic into leaving Serbia and seeking asylum either in Russia or Belarus to avoid prosecution in the Hague. But that may be overstating his immediate crisis - after all, Kostunica has stated that he's not interested in sending Milosevic for trial as a war criminal (a demand that has little resonance in Serbia), and even if Milosevic concedes the presidency, his control of a parliamentary majority would leave him as still potentially the most powerful politician in the country...