YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT PROPOSES BELGRADE MAJOR VOJISLAV MIHAJLOVIC AS ITS CANDIDATE FOR SEPTEMBER'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Record ID: 648714

  • Title: YUGOSLAVIA: SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT PROPOSES BELGRADE MAJOR VOJISLAV MIHAJLOVIC AS ITS CANDIDATE FOR SEPTEMBER'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
  • Date: 6th August 2000
  • Summary: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 6, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: MAYOR OF BELGRADE AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE OF OPPOSITION SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT, VOJISLAV MIHAJLOVIC, ENTERING FOR MEETING 0.10 2. VARIOUS OF MEETING (4 SHOTS) 0.33 BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. MV/PAN: INTERIOR CITY HALL/ MIHAJLOVIC AND OTHER SERBIAN RENEWAL MOVEMENT PARTY OFFICIALS AT CELEBRATION ORGANIZED FOR FIRST GRADERS TO MARK BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR (2 SHOTS) 0.44 BELGRADE YUGOSLAVIA (OCTOBER 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 4. VARIOUS OF YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC AT THE RULING SOCIALIST PARTY'S CONVENTION AT THE SAVA CENTRE (4 SHOTS) 1.03 BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (AUGUST 6, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Serbian) ZORAN DJINDJIC, LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPEAKING SAYING: "For the last two months the united opposition has been trying to agree the candidate which would run against Milosevic but not only run but also win. The decision of the Serbian Renewal Movement will not change that. We will continue to discuss our presidential candidate and if Mihajlovic was the one we thought could win against Milosevic we would have talked about him a long time ago. But he is not and I am sad that the Serbian Renewal Movement is not following the rest of the opposition" 2.12 6. MV: DJINDJIC BEING INTERVIEWED 2.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 21st August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7G9EJ2XLO0J1IU0KEO2BIFZSU
  • Story Text: The Serbian Renewal Movement, the largest opposition
    party in Serbia has decided to propose its own candidate,
    Vojislav Mihajlovic, for the presidential election in
    September, risking a split in the vote against Slobodan
    Milosevic.



    Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic arrived for the
    meeting of the Serbian Renewal Movement, which began in a
    Belgrade municipal office shortly after noon (1000 GMT) on
    Sunday (August 6). It was expected to be tense.

    The party members were discussing whether to propose their
    own candidate, Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic, for
    September's presidential election.

    But the rest of Serbia's fragmented opposition back a
    rival candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, and were greatly
    disappointed when news broke of the Serbian Renewal Movement's
    decision.

    They say he is not a good candidate, little known to the
    public, and could not expect their support.

    "If Mihajlovic was the one we thought could win against
    Milosevic we would have talked about him a long time ago",
    said Democratic Party Leader, Zoran Djindjic. "But he is not
    and I am sad that the Serbian Renewal Movement is not
    following the rest of the opposition"
    But another leader said the opposition front was not
    totally destroyed by the decision, since if the vote went to a
    second round, Kostunica would certainly beat Milosevic.

    Draskovic, a controversial figure accused by other
    opposition leaders of helping Milosevic behind the scenes,
    presaged his party's decision on Saturday when he praised
    Mihajlovic, inviting other opposition leaders to support him,
    and launched a bitter attack on Kostunica.

    "Mihajlovic is a man who as president would bring us
    peace, the rule of law and
    co-operation with the world," said Draskovic, who had earlier
    told an opposition rival he had proposed the low-key mayor
    because he was good-looking.

    He called Kostunica, a Serbian nationalist, a man "who
    frightens many citizens of Serbia, as his policies are in fact
    the same as those of Slobodan Milosevic".

    Draskovic himself did not attend his party's meeting.

    In June he said he had survived a second assassination
    attempt masterminded by Milosevic in Montenegro and since then
    he has not returned from the smaller republic, saying he would
    be in even greater danger in Serbia.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register