Crunch day for Serbia's two-stage constitution vote

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

BELGRADE, Oct 29: Serbia resumed voting today in a two-day referendum on a new constitution that enshrines the breakaway province of Kosovo as an ''inalienable'' part of Serbia.

A new constitution has been made necessary by Serbia's change from lead republic of the now-defunct Yugoslav federation to solitary, independent state -- but also gave Serb politicians the chance to make a strong political statement on Kosovo.

The outcome is far from certain. Even if a majority vote 'Yes', turnout could fall short of the required 50 per cent of registered voters.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority of 2 million, still legally citizens of Serbia but not on the voting list, ignored the poll, saying it had no impact on their independence bid.

If the vote succeeds, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is expected to call an early national election to seek a stronger pro-Western majority able to ward off the constant challenge from ultranationalists in parliament.

A failure to pass would trigger political instability; President Boris Tadic says Serbia would enter ''months, maybe years, of uncertainty''.

By last night, almost 18 per cent of the 6.6 million on the rolls had voted. In Kosovo's Serb enclaves, turnout was about 35 percent.

The headline in today's Blic newspaper in Belgrade read: ''A hard slog to the constitution.'' Other papers urged people to go to vote and said it was too early for dire predictions.

''ROAD TO DEMOCRACY AND EU''

Some small groups kept up calls for a boycott, arguing the document was too vague and the result of a backroom deal.

But the heavyweight daily Politika said this was minor carping, and the document was a vital step on the road to modern democracy and eventual European Union membership.

Serbs in the divided Kosovo city of Mitrovica seemed partly convinced that reaffirming Serbian sovereignty over the province would stop the West from giving Albanians their independence. A woman voter, Ivana Virijevic, said the constitution ''offers us encouragement that the state of Serbia will stand by us if Kosovo is declared independent''. But one man said he hoped his 'Yes' vote was not for ''just empty promises''.

Serbs can hardly be unaware of the West's open sympathy for demands for Kosovo's independence. The United Nations has run Kosovo for seven years, since NATO expelled Serb forces to stop a bloody war against separatists, and is due to rule on its ''final status'' in the coming months.

No Serbian political leader could risk admitting the clause on Kosovo was just an attempt to spread the blame for Kosovo's possible loss and the consequences of past oppression of its Albanians.

In Kosovo, leading commentator Blerim Shala said this was a harmful pretence that ''will have repercussions for Kosovo Serbs, who will again be under a big illusion created by Belgrade's leadership that Serbia can regain control over Kosovo''.

About 100,000 Serbs still live in Kosovo. U N agencies have contingency plans for an exodus if independence comes and NATO is braced for trouble if Serbs in the north seek partition.

The constitution would replace a basic law set out in 1990, when Slobodan Milosevic still led a federation of six republics.

REUTERS

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