How Zoran Đinđić declared victory in the general elections on September 24, 2000 in the crowd at Terazije, how Vojislav Koštunica for "Vreme" predicted that they would have to fight for that victory, how regime journalists suddenly loved the opposition, on the night when the results were announced according to which Slobodan Milošević and his Socialist Party of Serbia lost power
Zoran Đinđić stands in the crowd at Terazije on September 24, 2000. Announces the victory of opposition presidential candidate Vojislav Koštunica in the elections for president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia against Slobodan Milošević. Behind Serbia is a bloody decade of war, NATO bombing.
"Đinđić announced the victory of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia at all levels" the journalist of "Vremena" reported. "The on-duty crew of the state television has been working since the evening of September 24 in an atmosphere that was described from the scene as 'scrappy'."
Kosovo as a consolation prize
At the first news about Milosevic's "convincing victory" in Kosovo, which was repeated throughout the evening, a more than experienced editor asked himself: "What is this, a consolation prize?", adds the text of "Vremena".
While on the night of September 24th and 25th, the opposition election headquarters and CeSID announced the first results of the vote counting, RTS replayed the video of the press conference of Nikola Šainović, a high official of the SPS, held the previous evening.
"Unlike the speech (of the authorities) in Berane, which was also heard from the iron - if it was plugged in - the state and parastate media broadcast only complete silence on the night of September 24/25. After Nikola Šainović announced that the socialist-July presidential candidate Slobodan Milošević - according to the processed data from 299 polling stations - was leading with 44:41, on the website of the Socialist Party it was announced that, with the same result, Vojislav was leading Kostunica. Immediately after Radio Index reported that news, the electoral side turned white," wrote the editorial office of "Vremena".
A spit-roasted ox and a cistern of beer
After the Federal Election Commission announced the possibility of a second round of presidential elections in several cities in Serbia, spontaneous gatherings of citizens were recorded. Because SIK then announced that Koštunica did not win in the first round, but that a second round was necessary. DOS accused the government of election theft.
That's why on September 24 in Belgrade, a group of citizens gathered at the Republic Square, and in several Belgrade neighborhoods, whistles and pots were heard banging. And not only in Belgrade, people also went out in Bor, Kragujevac...
More than 15.000 citizens gathered in the town square in Čačak to celebrate the victory of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. The celebration organized by the DOS for Čačak started at 20 pm with a tank of beer, an ox on a spit, dance and song and the participation of local musicians and the arrival of trumpeters.
"Those gathered are carrying the slogans 'Koštunica president', and the 'Otpor' movement is handing out tubes with a fist and the message 'We succeeded'. More than 5000 citizens of Novi Sad, in the central city square, welcomed the news of the preliminary results of the federal elections. DOS spokesman Bojan Pajić said that 'there is no second round of elections,'" the editorial office wrote.
Koštunica for "Time": Wishing for calm waters
"We will defend the victory", said Vojislav Koštunica in "Vremena" just three days before the fateful presidential elections on September 24, 2000. With his message, which was also placed on the cover of "Vremena", Koštunica seemed to have predicted the Fifth of October.
"These days you have often answered the question of what you will do first if you win the elections. Can you predict something longer term and say how the country you lead could look like at the end of your first term", asked "Vremena" journalist Vojislav Koštunica before the elections.
"I think it would be a country that would sail in the calm waters of free and fair elections, that would have a new and responsible assembly seriously concerned with the question of how to regulate relations between Serbia and Montenegro," he answered. "It could be a real constituent assembly, or an ordinary assembly dealing with a new constitution. That's what I see."
At the same time, he added, he also saw that country "without all these internal tensions between the government and the opposition, as well as tensions between various national communities, between Serbia and Montenegro."
"Relations with Europe, the world and especially our neighbors would begin to normalize. The words I find to most closely describe the state of the country at the end of my short mandate are - peace and normalization," Kostunica wished at the time.
"Sloba won't admit it," but who will tell Mira?
Dušan Radulović wrote about what was happening in Slobodan Milošević's election headquarters that evening.
"There was plenty of coffee, juices and sandwiches, alcohol - nothing. Those journalists who regularly follow SPS press conferences noticed that the famous waiter Zdravka was not there, a day off, a vacation, who knows," wrote Radulović and described the situation when socialist officials came out to announce the results to journalists:
"Already by their appearance, one could sense that something serious was happening. The good mood had disappeared, and if the spokesperson still managed to keep a relatively calm expression on his face. After a short reading of the data, Nikola Šainović did not offer the journalists the opportunity to ask questions. He read, got up and left. The RTS editor also left," he wrote.
Mobile phones were constantly ringing, journalists were commenting on the news that DOS was getting more and more votes, and most of the journalists from the "pro-regime" media loudly commented, as one of them said, that "it's great that Koštunica is leading", and there were also statements like "I always voted for the opposition". They responded to ironic remarks that they actually "don't think the same as their editors". Then word spread that "Shaja went to the boss for consultations", and then several serious journalists in confidence launched the story that they learned "from reliable sources" that "Sloba will not recognize the elections".
The problem that remains is that no one from SIK is allowed to tell Mrs. Miri Marković that she is no longer the first lady of the FRY," Vreme reported.
The final victory over the regime of Slobodan Milošević and Mira Marković was won on October 5, 2000, when the state power retreated before mass demonstrations in Belgrade.
Two unions of public services supported the request of FDU students for information about RTS employees, since claims appeared in the public that it was a request for "files". The students say they are looking for "public truth about public service."
Among those pardoned is the man who attacked a citizen who came to ask about the street in the office of the mayor of Kosjerić in April. The pardon applies only to one of the two offenses, and the injured party announces a constitutional appeal.
Before the constitutive session of the new convocation, consultations were held with representatives of all the lists that entered the Assembly. The student movement said in advance that they will not turn those talks into political agreements.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, claims to Danas that he has been monitored for a year and a half and that he suspects that listening devices are in his office at the Rectorate, at the faculty, in his car and at home.
After the election defeat, Vučić is increasingly addressing his supporters via TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, where his posts receive hundreds of thousands of views.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
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