BELGRADE Allies of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica braced for a key test Saturday when the Serbian Parliament, still packed with supporters of ousted leader Slobodan Milosevic, was due to vote on the make-up of an interim government.
The 18-party Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), which backed Kostunica in his presidential bid, reached an agreement last week with Milosevic's Socialist Party (SPS) to share power until legislative elections in December.
According to AFP, Kostunica's supporters maintain that the forthcoming elections offer reformists a golden opportunity to capture Serbia's government, the real seat of power in Yugoslavia.
The parliamentary debate was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday, but was held up by last-minute wrangling among members of the outgoing administration dominated by Milosevic loyalists.
The government led by Prime Minister Mirko Marjanovic, a staunch ally of the former Belgrade strongman, was expected to resign Saturday, paving the way for an interim cabinet to rule Serbia until the December 23 elections.
Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, another key Milosevic supporter, has until Monday to call the early elections if, as expected, the Parliament gives its vote of approval to the interim government.
Under the power-sharing accord, the republic's new prime minister will be drawn from the SPS ranks, with the DOS and Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), which shunned the anti-Milosevic alliance in last month's polls, each getting a deputy prime minister's post.
The four key ministries the Interior, Finance, Justice and Media will be under joint three-way control.
The SPS said its candidate for prime minister would be the party's top official Milomir Minic, but it was unclear whom they would nominate to the joint ministries.
The DOS has opted for economists, technocrats and other experts, instead of career politicians, to head the four ministries allocated to it under the October 16 accord.
And Draskovic's SPO, once regarded as the focus of opposition to Milosevic but sidelined as a result of its election boycott, has also nominated candidates for the interim cabinet.
The SPS's ultra-nationalist allies, the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), decided to shun any interim government resulting from the "armed takeover of power," a reference to the popular uprising that swept Kostunica to the Yugoslav presidency earlier this month.
Also left out in the cold was another erstwhile SPS backer, the Yugoslav Left (JUL) headed by Milosevic's wife Mira Markovic, none of whose members were expected to be invited to join the caretaker government.
In addition to voting on the interim administration, the Assembly was expected Saturday to nominate an electoral commission and other supervisory bodies for the upcoming poll.