[spectre] Serbian elections revisited

[Ivo Skoric]

(Dear spectrites ... this was recently posted on <nettime> by Ivo  
Skoric, living in NY, at the moment in Zagreb, and points to some of  
the confusion in the reporting of the recent Serbian elections - sk)

Amusingly, most of the Western media reported on Serbian Radicals
winning the elections in Serbia, almost as that means the Seselj will
return back from The Hague and take the position of the president of
Serbia within months. Major western media almost delighted in the
fascist party victory as a proof of their entrenched prejudice that
Serbia is the proverbial bad apple of the Balkans.

I am glad that there is at least one report written in English
testifying to the contrary. First, for Americans, acustomed to the
two-party political system, sometimes it is  difficult to follow two
dozens of parliamentary parties in emerging democracies of post-
communist countries, where an absolute majority is absolutely
impossible.

The truth of Serbia is that Radicals have the most unique followers,
because for all fascists it is always easier to follow one leader,
while the majority of Serbs vote for the multiple choice of parties,
none of which want to form a coalition with Radicals. Therefore,
Radicals will remain noise in parliament, as they are for past
fiftteen years, banking on Seselj's defiance in The Hague, among the
less educated, disaffected, angry, low income people. But since the
government is a coalition project, and no EU-bound politician in
Serbia wants to be seen near Radicals, they will never be a part of
government.

So, this is a good analisys:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-
yugoslavia/serbia_election_4275.jsp

ivo---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
105 Robbins Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org