Serb

Published by Ekathimerini.com, October 7, 2004

Serb leaders split on Kosovo

Pro-Western president says, ‘Vote’; ultra-nationalists say, ‘Boycott’

By Katarina Kratovac - The Associated Press

BELGRADE - Ultra-nationalist allies of Slobodan Milosevic launched a motion in Parliament yesterday to impeach Serbia’s pro-Western president, alleging he violated the constitution by urging Kosovo Serbs to vote in the province’s elections later this month.

Gordana Pop-Lazic of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party said the move followed President Boris Tadic’s televised address to the nation on Tuesday evening, in which he appealed to Kosovo Serbs to take part in the October 23 ballot.

The Serb minority has threatened to boycott the vote in Kosovo, citing a lack of security in the province.

For the impeachment motion to be introduced for discussion before the 250-seat assembly, 84 lawmakers’ signatures are required. The Radicals, the biggest party in Parliament, have 82 seats.

Under Serbia’s constitution, a president can be impeached if two-thirds of Parliament votes in favor, as well as half of Serbia’s 6 million voters in a nationwide referendum.

Former President Milosevic’s Socialist Party and the Radicals together have 104 parliament seats, not enough to impeach the president. “Tadic overstepped his authority as president, he had no right to give his personal views precedence over state affairs,” Pop-Lazic told reporters. She urged “all self-respecting lawmakers” to sign the Radicals’ motion.

Ivica Dacic from Milosevic’s Socialist Party called Tadic’s appeal to the Serbs “damaging” for their future. Dacic said his party supports the Radicals’ motion but said it would be hard to impeach Tadic.

Tadic’s appeal, which conflicts with conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s support for the Kosovo Serbs’ planned boycott, deepened a rift among Serbia’s leaders.

Tadic, caving in to EU demands, said Kosovo Serbs should vote so they can have a say in Kosovo’s future when it is discussed next year.

The appeal prompted outrage among government officials and Serb hardliners, but was hailed by pro-Western politicians and the UN administrator in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen.

Marko Jaksic, a hardline Kosovo Serb leader, accused Tadic of “stabbing (Serbs) in the back.” There is “no valid reason why Kosovo Serbs should vote when they don’t even have conditions for a safe and free life.”

Bishop Artemije of the influential Serbian Orthodox Church sent a letter to Tadic, saying his stand would “help achieve ethnic Albanian separatist goals of an independent Kosovo.”



Volume 6 Number 40 - Tuesday, October 12th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY

Volume 6 Number 40 - Tuesday, October 12th, 2004