Kostunica Prepares to Take Reins in Yugoslavia
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: With the military backing him and outgoing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic publicly wishing him well, Vojislav Kostunica is set to lead his country after a decade of war and turmoil. For more on this chapter in history, we go to our bureau chief in Belgrade, Alessio Vinci.</s>ALESSIO VINCI, CNN BELGRADE BUREAU CHIEF: Vojislav Kostunica will take his oath in this very room here, on that podium right behind my shoulders. It will take place probably sometime within the next two hours. We understand now that the two chambers of the federal parliament, the new federal parliament, are meeting. At this point, they have to elect the new speakers of those two chambers. once that procedure has been completed, the two chambers will meet in a joint session in this very same room, and in front of that parliament, Vojislav Kostunica will take the oath and then become the new president of Yugoslavia. Just to give you an idea about what is happening right now in those two chambers, you have deputies of the political parties who won these elections, that is the Socialist People's Party and the Yugoslavia Left and the People's Party of Montenegro. So these are pro-Milosevic parties, which at this point are controlling those -- the federal parliament. Mr. Kostunicia, once he becomes president, will have to propose a prime minister which will have to be approved by the federal parliament. That could be the first big challenge for Mr. Kostunica, because the federal parliament at this point, unless some of the members of the political parties, in Montenegro especially, do not agree to accept his choice of prime minister, then it could be possible that a new election could take place. And all this procedure, of course, is days away from now. It is the president that is the major concern today. He will be sworn in. This procedure was supposed to take place inside of federal parliament, but you may remember on Thursday that parliament was stormed by mobs of demonstrators. They gutted the department of the parliament, they set it on fire, and, therefore, they're now meeting here, in the Saba (ph) Center, which is a convention center just on the other side from the old city center in downtown Belgrade. We had a chance to speak to some former Yugoslav, or soon to be former Yugoslav ministers. We saw Foreign Minister Jovanovic, we saw the information minister, Goram Matic, who told us that basically he was blaming the federal election commission and the constitutional court for issuing wrong numbers, for issuing false numbers, for letting people believe that those election went in a different way. So here we are, the Yugoslavia government now blaming those very same bodies that had previously tried to cancel the elections, the presidential elections, altogether. Alessio Vinci, CNN, Belgrade.</s>RANDALL: Joining us for more on the situation in Belgrade is Jonathan Landay, a national security correspondent for Knight Ridder newspapers. Jonathan, what do you suppose it was that finally convinced Slobodan Milosevic to leave?</s>JONATHAN LANDAY, KNIGHT RIDDER: I think, first of all, obviously the pressure in the streets. But I think that when he saw that the Russians were finally coming on board with the United States and the European Union to say it's time to go, there is supposition that perhaps the Russian foreign minister, Mr. Ivanov, also brought some kind of assurance to Mr. Milosevic that there wouldn't be a push, at least immediately, for his extradition to the Hague. Then you had the constitutional court coming on board for Mr. Kostunica, reversing itself, and then you had the army chief of staff.</s>RANDALL: Now for Kostunica, how big a need is there for him to quickly consolidate his power?</s>LANDAY: It's extremely important. This is going to be his No. 1 challenge right now. As your correspondent pointed out, the balance of power in the federal parliament is now held by a party from Montenegro that was Mr. Milosevic's coalition partner in the elections. Together with Mr. Milosevic's party, his wife's party, this Montenegran party hold a majority. Mr. Kostunica will have to make some kind of deal with the Montenegrans to bring them over and join the opposition to form a coalition government. Plus, his own coalition, 18 parties, very divisive potentially. It's going to be a very difficult problem for him. It's his first major test.</s>RANDALL: Mr. Milosevic says he is leaving office, but he is not leaving. In fact, he says he wants to be a part of Serbia's political scene. Do you see that happening? And if so, could that be an obstacle for the lifting of sanctions?</s>LANDAY: The West has already made it clear, the E.U. and the United States, that not all the sanctions are going to be lifted right away, because they do fear that Mr. Milosevic's continuing presence in Belgrade, on the political scene, as he puts it, could be a very divisive factor. In fact, we have to remember that Mr. Milosevic's party, for all intents and purposes, at this point still controls the government with the most institutional power in Yugoslavia, that's the Serbian government, the government of the republic of Serbia. They still for all intents and purposes control that government. Plus, he has people who are inside the federal government, been there for years, worked for him for a long time, and it's up to Mr. Kostunica to be able to clean house. And that's going to be hard.</s>RANDALL: And finally, Jonathan, when Mr. Kostunica did a television talk show, call-in show, the other night, he was asked about his ties with the army. He said he had had conversations with the army, which convinced him that we will live in peace.</s>LANDAY: Yes, I don't think at this point there is any chance for an army takeover, because the rank and file, for all the reports that we understand, voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Kostunica. I don't see them turning against the popular will. And now you've had the army chief of staff, who is very, very close to Mr. Milosevic, endorsing Mr. Kostunica's election as well. So for now, I don't think there's a danger of a military takeover.</s>RANDALL: Jonathan Landay of Knight Ridder newspapers, thanks very much.</s>LANDAY: My pleasure.</s>RANDALL: Thanks for coming in.