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Do fake leaders’ poor ratings need to be faked? |
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September 24, 2000
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - A pro-government group has filed a lawsuit against several public opinion agencies that reported President Slobodan Milosevic trailing going into Sunday's crucial ballot, state media said Saturday. The Patriotic Alliance claimed that the independent, nongovernment agencies have "grossly falsified polling results and misled the domestic and foreign public," according to the state-run Radio Television of Serbia. Serbian television said the suit was filed Wednesday, presumably in Belgrade district court. No one was available for comment from the Patriotic Alliance, which has in the past made similar legal moves against independent media critical of Milosevic. A top manager of Strategic Marketing, one of the targeted agencies, dismissed the accusations as "absurd" and "illogical." Srdjan Bogosavljevic said all of the polls were done "with scientific methods which are accepted all around the world." The agency and at least five others have found the 18 allied oppositions and their joint presidential candidate, Vojislav Kostunica leading by six to 17 percentage points ahead of Milosevic and his nationalist-neocommunist alliance. On Sunday, up to 7.8 million eligible voters are to decide whether to keep Milosevic or opt for the opposition which is pledging to end years of decline and isolation.
Milosevic was chosen president by Ä+!´LWslav parliament to a single, four-year term in June 1997. He called early elections in July after pushing through changes in the constitution to allow voters to choose the president directly. Months of repression of opposition supporters and activists continued even in the final days before the vote with 20 more arrests. One opposition candidate for the country's parliament was detained and questioned by the police in the southern town of Leskovac late Friday as well as members of Otpor, a popular anti-Milosevic student organization. There are fears that Milosevic may rig or annul results if they turn out unfavorable for him, which could lead to wider conflicts. The Serbian Orthodox Church Friday called for respect of any election results and peace during and after this weekend's balloting. "The voice of the people is the voice of God," the church said in an appeal signed by Patriarch Pavle, the head of the church. "If someone tries to change the people's will there is a danger of unforeseeable consequences for our people and country." Tensions have also been fueled after an aide to Milosevic said that autocratic leader can remain president until his current term expires in June 2001 regardless of the election results. Milosevic's chief rival, Kostunica, said such a claim is a sign of fear not strength. Kostunica also said disrespect of the law is a common feature of Milosevic's rule. A Milosevic defeat in Sunday elections would lead to a dramatic change in Yugoslavia, ravaged by 10 years of turmoil and civic conflict under his rule. Yugoslavia consists of Milosevic's power base, Serbia, and much smaller Montenegro. But analysts believe Milosevic will not give up power easily because he would then become vulnerable for possible arrest and extradition to an international war crimes tribunal which has issued an indictment against him. Legal experts and the Montenegrin pro-Western government have declared the move illegal. It led to Montenegrin leadership's boycott of the upcoming elections, but a faction of Montenegrins that support Milosevic are going to organize the ballot independently. Meanwhile, a Romanian non-governmental group said Saturday that its members were banned from monitoring elections in neighboring Yugoslavia and that Romanian journalists were unable to cover the elections. Romanians can normally travel to Yugoslavia without visas, but border guards have been turning back Romanian journalists. Four Romanians of Pro-Democracy arrived this week in Belgrade but were refused permission to monitor the election, the group said. |
