Serbia calls election to put reforms back on track

Serbia announced yesterday that parliamentary elections will be held a year early, in an attempt to end a year-long political stalemate that has delayed much-needed economic reform.

Natasa Micic, the parliamentary speaker, said in an address to the nation: "The parliament has exhausted its potential for reforms and its democratic capacity and it is no longer able to continue adoption of the necessary reforms." She expressed her hope that the vote would "help restore wisdom and harmony".

The decision to hold the elections on 28 December was taken as Serbia faced its most serious political crisis since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic three years ago. The Serbian government has been fighting for survival for weeks after some of its junior partners left the 15-member ruling coalition, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS). The government was facing a no-confidence motion and had little hope of surviving after in effect losing its majority at the weekend.

Zoran Zivkovic, the Serbian Prime Minister, announcing the government's decision yesterday to dissolve the 250-member assembly, said: "The parliament has lost its ability for decision-making. The government does not want to be blackmailed any more."

Besides toppling Mr Milosevic, DOS ended the decade-long isolation of the country and set Serbia on a path to economic and political reform. But, to the deep disappointment of many Serbs, economic recovery has been neither quick nor painless.

The unemployment rate has risen to more than 30 per cent and ordinary people have derived little benefit from the privatisation of major tobacco, brewery, sugar and cement industries, which brought more than a billion dollars into state coffers. This has overshadowed government achievements, such as establishing a stable national currency, bringing an abundance of imported goods, ensuring regular electricity supplies and better social care.

Unpopular moves, such as price hikes and co-operation with the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague have deeply divided the public and the opposition has used all these issues to attack the government.

The reforms came to a halt after the assassination of the pragmatic prime minister Zoran Djindjic in March. Others lacked his broad vision and quickly resumed political intrigue, accusing political rivals of corruption.

Although the DOS is practically dead , analysts say the time has come for such a broad coalition to disappear now that it has served its prime purpose of ousting Mr Milosevic. Reformists hope to form a new coalition of fewer parties that are more strongly committed to sweeping change.

The decision to call early elections was taken only days before presidential elections scheduled for Sunday. The DOS hopes that the forthcoming parliamentary election will motivate many undecided voters to participate in Sunday's poll. Two rounds of presidential elections were invalid last year because of public apathy and poor turnout.

The DOS candidate in the presidential election, Dragoljub Micunovic, 73, is favourite to win. He expressed the hope yesterday that after the two sets of elections had been held a more stable Serbia could "celebrate the new year with the new president and the newly elected parliament".

* Serbia and Montenegro's President, Svetozar Marovic, offered an apology to Bosnia yesterday for the 1992-95 war in which 200,000 people died, most of them Muslims. Bosnian Serb forces in the war were backed by Belgrade.

Mr Marovic's gesture comes eight years after Nato powers stopped the fighting and imposed the Dayton peace accord, and three years after the two countries ­ previously parts of Yugoslavia ­ established diplomatic relations and normalised ties.