Milosevic Gives In On Belgrade Elections Opponents’ Victories Validated, But Standoff Could Continue

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic made a major concession Tuesday in his eight-week struggle with his political opponents, validating disputed election returns that would give the opposition control of Belgrade’s city government and could seriously weaken his 9-year-old grip on power.

Allies and foes alike cautioned, however, against declaring an end to the standoff between Milosevic and an opposition movement that has staged daily protests since the Serbian leader annulled its victories in more than a dozen municipal elections held on Nov. 17.

Belgrade’s municipal electorial commission Tuesday validated what were described as preliminary election results that gave control of the capital’s city council to the opposition coalition known as Together.

The ruling overturned annulments by courts controlled by Milosevic’s ruling Socialist Party and its allies, which had ruled that the elections were tainted by irregularities.

In addition, the electoral panel in Nis, a city of 200,000 people, backed down Tuesday from its refusal to implement an order restoring the opposition’s victory there.

The government’s reversal would give Together 60 of 110 seats on Belgrade’s powerful city council, fulfilling a key opposition demand and laying the groundwork for a more-serious challenge to Milosevic in national elections to be held later this year.

But politicians and observers here, citing splits within the Milosevic camp, refused to rule out a last-minute effort by hard-liners to thwart the opposition.

Underscoring that possibility, an official Tanjug news-agency dispatch read on state and private television Tuesday quoted legal experts who questioned the legality of using administrative electoral commissions to annul court decisions.

The electoral commission’s findings can be appealed within 48 hours.