Amb. Johnson Says Serb Opposition Victory Must Be Respected
U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE)
Vienna
September 28, 2000
STATEMENT ON THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
DELIVERED BY AMBASSADOR DAVID T. JOHNSON TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL
Vienna
September 28, 2000
Thank you, Madame Chairperson. Let me first reaffirm the United
States' gratitude towards the Chairperson-in-Office for her leadership
in coordinating the international effort to witness the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia elections and to report to delegations and to
the world her authoritative assessment of the election's environment
and conduct. Her statements of September 25 and September 27 were
indeed authoritative and clear. We agree with them unconditionally.
We are also grateful to ODIHR for its findings and conclusions. We
strongly support ODIHR's call for the Yugoslav Federal Election
Commission to publish the full details for all polling stations.
Like the European Union, the United States salutes the courage of the
Serb people in rejecting Milosevic, and we call for the will of the
people to be respected. We support the European Union position on
sanctions relief for a democratic Yugoslavia. When a democratic
transition takes place, the United States will take steps to remove
sanctions. We call on all other OSCE partners to join this call and
show the people of Yugoslavia that the world will not acquiesce in
Milosevic's attempt to ignore the true election results.
The United States Government believes the opposition has won the first
round and that it has the protocol documentation compiled from
individual polling sites to prove it. The opposition overcame regime
intimidation, a flawed election law and many acts of outright fraud to
win a sweeping endorsement from the Serb people. The voters of Serbia
voted for change, and for democracy.
We believe the opposition vote count figures are the only reliable
ones. They were tabulated according to a fully transparent and
documented process. At each polling station, votes were counted in the
presence of monitors of each of the major parties. Results of the
count were recorded on an official protocol.
Each major party received one copy of protocol; one was also posted at
the polling station; and one was sent with ballots to the District
Electoral Commission and eventually to the Federal Election Commission
(FEC).
The overall opposition results were tabulated by adding up the
opposition copy of the protocol from each polling station they were
allowed to monitor. They made the 10,000 protocols available for media
inspection.
But despite clear evidence of an overwhelming victory by the
opposition and its presidential candidate, the Milosevic government
has called for a second round.
There is no factual basis for the regime's call for a second round.
The regime-controlled results were tabulated behind closed doors.
Opposition party representatives were illegally barred from the
counting process. There is no documentation available to verify how
the regime's results were tabulated or how this total related to the
certified results from 10,000 polling places The opposition leaders
have made clear that the first round of voting resulted in an
overwhelming victory for Kostunica. We agree. President Clinton said
yesterday, we believe that the expressed will of the Serbian people
should be respected now. We urge the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Government to respect the people's will.
We call upon all OSCE States to support the opposition, and to lend
your voices to the international calls on the current regime to
respect the outcome of the elections. The people of Serbia, and the
region, have suffered for too long under Milosevic's policies of
hatred and aggression. Now is the time democratic forces need our
support most.
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