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Vojislav Mihailovic to oppose Slobodan Milosevic

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Belgrade mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic,left, shakes hands with an unidentified member of main board of Serbian Renewal Movement, Sunday August 6 2000 in Belgrade. In a move that could further split opponents of Slobodan Milosevic, SerbiaÕs largest opposition party will decide whether to put forward its own presidential candidate Vojislav Mihajlovic rather than supporting one expected to be nominated by the rest of the opposition and whether to reverse its planned boycott of the Sept. 24 presidential, parliamentary and local elections. The rest of the fractured Serbian opposition movement is expected to support Vojislav Kostunica, leader of the small, center-right Democratic Party of Serbia. (AP PHOTO / Srdjan Ilic)

August 7, 2000 

BELGRADE (AP) - Serbia's single largest opposition party announced Sunday it would put forward its own presidential candidate to challenge Slobodan Milosevic, rather than support the nominee of the other opposition parties.

The move, which further fragments the Serbian opposition, threatens to hand victory to Milosevic.

The Serbian Renewal Movement, whose main board met Sunday, said it had reversed an earlier decision to boycott the Sept. 24 presidential and local elections and nominated Belgrade's opposition mayor, Vojislav Mihailovic, to run for president.

The rest of the fractured Serbian opposition movement is expected to support Vojislav Kostunica, leader of the small, center-right Democratic Party of Serbia.

However, in a statement carried by Montenegrin press on Sunday, Kostunica said he will accept candidacy only if the pro-Western administration in Montenegro, which along with Serbia forms the Yugoslav federation, participate in the balloting.

The Montenegrin government, led by President Milo Djukanovic, has so far refused to take part in the elections.

In a radio interview Saturday, the Serbian Renewal Movement's leader Vuk Draskovic urged the opposition to rally behind Mihailovic.

Yet other opposition leaders are reluctant to rally around a candidate allied with the mercurial Draskovic, who served as a Yugoslav deputy prime minister until he was fired during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

Draskovic was slightly wounded in an assassination attempt in his summer home in Montenegrin coastal town of Budva on June 15. He accused Milosevic of the attack, although the government has denied any role.

Mihailovic said that his party would propose a joint opposition list for local elections, and announced further negotiations with the rest of the anti-Milosevic camp for Monday.

The Serbian Renewal Movement had earlier said it would not participate in the elections because balloting was called in an illegal and illegitimate manner, following recent changes to the constitution, initiated by Milosevic's ruling coalition.