The Yugoslav parliament yesterday approved in principle constitutional changes which the opposition said could make internationally shunned leader Slobodan Milosevic president for life. The proposal by deputies of the ruling coalition would allow Milosevic to win a new term in office through a popular ballot when his current term expires next year, analysts say.
Under present rules the Yugoslav president is elected by parliament, and cannot run twice. Parliamentary officials said a joint session of parliament was to be held yesterday to declare changes to the constitution after the adoption of amendments. Parliament is dominated by the ruling leftist coalition made up of Milosevic's Socialist Party, the Yugoslav Left run by his wife Mira Markovic, and the ultra-nationalist Radical Party.
Serbian opposition leaders have slammed the proposal and branded as illegal the hasty procedure for calling the parliamentary session. "The constitution is being changed for the sake of just one man," parliamentary deputy Vladeta Jankovic of the opposition Democratic Party of Serbia told the lower house. "It is shameful that we are agreeing to adapt the constitution to one man, Slobodan Milosevic, who should rule for ever and move from one function to another," he said.
The Western-leaning leadership of Montenegro - the smaller republic in the Yugoslav federation - on Wednesday accused Milosevic of dealing a final blow to its troubled union with dominant Serbia. Under the proposal not only the president but also the upper
chamber of the federal parliament would be directly elected, thereby bypassing the Montenegrin parliament which is due to meet on Friday to discuss the constitutional changes. Reuters
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