Voting Under Way in Yugoslav Elections
September 25, 2000 - 0:0
BELGRADE Yugoslavs voted on Sunday in crucial presidential and parliamentary elections with President Slobodan Milosevic, trailing in opinion polls, facing the biggest challenge of his 13-year rule.
The opposition said early voting was uneven around the country, with some 20 percent of 7.4 million registered voters in Serbia casting their ballots by noon, Reuters said.
Majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo totally ignored the elections, which were not recognized by UN authorities administering the southern Serbian province.
In Serbia's sister republic Montenegro the pro-Western leadership carried out their threat to boycott the elections, but as promised did not prevent Milosevic supporters from voting in improvised polling stations.
In Belgrade, a local electoral monitoring organization reported numerous voting irregularities by midday and said its activists around the country were reporting the polls were a "complete mess", reinforcing fears at home and abroad that the embattled Yugoslav leader might try to rig the ballot.
Meanwhile, DPA said the main rival of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate Vojislav Kostunica, cast his ballot in crucial elections Sunday saying he was confident that the people would oust the current regime.
Kostunica, well ahead of Milosevic in pre-election polls, said the people would force Milosevic's authorities to step down even if they refused to acknowledge the results.
Both Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and Kostunovic's opposition movement were preparing post-election gatherings in central Belgrade Sunday night.
Besides Kostunica, three other candidates challenged Milosevic for the presidency Tomislav Nikolic (Serbian Radical Party), Vojislav Mihailovic (Serbian Renewal Movement) and Miodrag Vidojkovic (Affirmative Party).
In the meantime, a British government source claimed disillusioned close aides to Milosevic have leaked plans to stage massive vote rigging in Sunday's presidential elections.
"We do have indications that Mr. Milosevic is planning electoral fraud on a scale which will allow him to claim victory during the first round of the presidential elections," the source told AFP.
"These accusations are not just coming from the opposition parties and other organizations in Serbia. They are also coming from people within the regime who are unhappy and wish the truth to be known," the source claimed.
The opposition said early voting was uneven around the country, with some 20 percent of 7.4 million registered voters in Serbia casting their ballots by noon, Reuters said.
Majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo totally ignored the elections, which were not recognized by UN authorities administering the southern Serbian province.
In Serbia's sister republic Montenegro the pro-Western leadership carried out their threat to boycott the elections, but as promised did not prevent Milosevic supporters from voting in improvised polling stations.
In Belgrade, a local electoral monitoring organization reported numerous voting irregularities by midday and said its activists around the country were reporting the polls were a "complete mess", reinforcing fears at home and abroad that the embattled Yugoslav leader might try to rig the ballot.
Meanwhile, DPA said the main rival of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate Vojislav Kostunica, cast his ballot in crucial elections Sunday saying he was confident that the people would oust the current regime.
Kostunica, well ahead of Milosevic in pre-election polls, said the people would force Milosevic's authorities to step down even if they refused to acknowledge the results.
Both Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and Kostunovic's opposition movement were preparing post-election gatherings in central Belgrade Sunday night.
Besides Kostunica, three other candidates challenged Milosevic for the presidency Tomislav Nikolic (Serbian Radical Party), Vojislav Mihailovic (Serbian Renewal Movement) and Miodrag Vidojkovic (Affirmative Party).
In the meantime, a British government source claimed disillusioned close aides to Milosevic have leaked plans to stage massive vote rigging in Sunday's presidential elections.
"We do have indications that Mr. Milosevic is planning electoral fraud on a scale which will allow him to claim victory during the first round of the presidential elections," the source told AFP.
"These accusations are not just coming from the opposition parties and other organizations in Serbia. They are also coming from people within the regime who are unhappy and wish the truth to be known," the source claimed.