GETTING RID OF KRAJINA

Elections in Krajina

Mile Marticc won in the second round of parliamnetary elections in Krajina, after he got great support from the Belgrade regime media. His defeated rival, Milan Babicc, remains on the political scene, though. Krajina is facing further political disturbances in the forthcoming formation of the government; Belgrade will strive to impose its candidates for prime minister - Djordje Bjegovicc (a Socialist) and Bora Mikelicc (a Communist). The election of Marticc ensures strict implementation of Milossevicc's policies in Krajina.

AIM, Belgrade, Jan. 27, 1994

Mile Marticc, the Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, finally became the President of this self-proclaimed state, having won 50.22 per cent of the votes in the second round of presidential elections. According to the report of the Republican Election Committee, there were no complaints concerning the course and the regularity of the elections - had there been any, the voting would have continued until the Minister of Internal affairs had been elected. Those who had interpreted the results of the first election round (on December 12) when Milan Babicc got 49.89 per cent of the votes, as the first election defeat of Milossevicc badly miscalculated.

After the shock caused by Babicc's convincing lead in the first round of voting, Belgrade enforcened its involvement in the election competition in Krajina. State media, primarily the Radio-Television Serbia, at first gave much publicity to the possible complaints concerning the regularity of the elections which could come from Marticc's headquarters, and then began making accusations against Babicc as the destroyer of the unity of the Serbian people, a man hungry for power and similar. At the same time, various personalities engaged in Serbian political life, known for their active propagation of the unification of all Serbs in a single state, such as Branislav Crnchevicc, Radmila Milentijevicc, member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Muihajlo Markovicc and others, began publicly warning the inhabitants of the Krajina not to elect Babicc for president.

But, even that seemed to be insufficient. At the Plitvice Lakes, with the aid of the staff and the equipment from Television Novi Sad - the most powerful stronghold of the Socialist Party of Serbia - state television of Krajina was established with the only aim to disseminate Marticc's propaganda. What is more, his policemen took hold of all TV transmitters and thus disabled functioning of TV Knin which did not favour Marticc. The stance of Belgrade was quite unambiguous. The return of Milan Babicc to high politics should by no means be allowed. As an authentic war-lord created by Milossevicc, and removed from his office also by Milossevicc when he openly opposed him, Babicc could introduce complete anarchy into the crisis on the territory of former Yugoslavia. In that case, all agreements between the warring parties - primarily between Serbia and Croatia without which the end of the war is not even in sight - would become irrelevant.

The answer to the question how Marticc managed to triumph over Babicc, many seek in the fact that Babicc's team was completely deprived of all possibility to respond to the accusations. Besides, Marticc had a new election strategy - surrounded by people who enjoy the trust of the Belgrade regime, he constantly repeated that his only aim was to hand over the duty to the "all-Serbian President Milossevicc". Since there followed no denials, many inhabitants of the Krajina assessed that, should Babicc win, a conflict between Krajina and Serbia might arise, or that the support of Serbia might cease. Dissatisfied with the results of the first round of the elections, Marticc also warned that he would withdraw if the composition of the local election committees were not changed. This meant that the change of the authorities became uncertain, and that a police coup was a certainty. Wishing to maintain what he had already won by the elections - primarily his thirty deputies in the Parliament - Babicc was forced to accept these conditions. Therefore, it so happened that the election committees were changed and that the number of registered voters increased by approximately six thousand from the first until the second election round - exactly by the number Marticc won more than Babicc.

And yet, it cannot be claimed that the victory of the head policeman of Krajina is absolute. The party of Milan Babicc (the Serbian Democratic Party of Krajina), should it be supported by the Krajina Radicals, could pass a vote of no confidence to any candidate for the prime minister proposed by Marticc. Therefore, speculations about the possibility that the nwely-elected President will be forced to offer the post of the Prime Minister to his greatest rival are not without any foundation. But, there are two conditions for this. First, Babicc is expected to guarantee that he would strictly follow the orders from Belgrade, and second, the Radicals should remain united. Both are highly uncertain. If Babicc recedes from his positions, he will lose his political credibility, and many Krajina Radicals reproach their leader, Vojislav Ssesselj, for his attacks against Slobodan Milossevicc who is the inviolable Serbian leader for the people west of the river Drina. Marticc is offering them various posts within the structure of his authorities, and it seems not in vain. That is why both Djordje Bjegovicc (the present Prime Minister) and Boro Mikelicc, the communist businessman from Petrinja are mentioned as the possible prime ministers of the RSK. The first is known for not having antagonized any party in the occasional settling of accounts among Krajina leaders, and the latter is close to the top of the Serbian authorities. Mikelicc, with his business instinct, if Zagreb and Belgrade seriously mean to normalize their relations, could help in filling the gap, primarily in the sphere of the economy, according to the recipe of Fikret Abdicc. In any case, Marticc is chosen as a man who is supposed to enable Slobodan Milossevicc to get rid of the Krajina in the most painless possible manner - regardless to what extent Marticc himself is aware of the role entrusted to him.

The first statement that Marticc made as the President, was that he would gather around him a team of people "from the entire Serbian space" - meaning both from Serbia and the Republic of Srpska. This implies that he will strictly follow the orders coming from Belgrade, and they will depend on the course the events in Geneva will take. Where this will lead is best indicated by various emissaries from Bosnian Serbs who are offering the people in Krajina to move to their territories, into the abandoned Muslim and Croatian houses. For instance, the inhabitants of Plasski are offered to come to Prijedor and Derventa. Should anything go wrong, past the agreement between the Croatian and the Serbian President, the scapegoat to take the blame could always be found in Milan Babicc. For the first, he would be the pretext for military action, and for the latter an excuse to finally abandon the short-term project initiated in the first place only in order to strengthen his own position and power - the project called the Republic of Serbian Krajina.

Philip Schwarm