Slobodan Milosevic's Successor: Threat of a More Extremist Serbian Leader Looms

As Yugoslavia's President Slobodan Milosevic's rule is shaken by Serbia's withdrawal from Kosovo, a more extremist and anti-Western politician, Vojislav Seselj, is positioning himself to take Milosevic's place. If Seselj succeeds, it will place a nationalist leadership even more strident and anti-Western than the regime that NATO just attempted to bomb into submission. Seselj's rise to power could be catastrophic, given his history of virulent nationalism and incendiary rhetoric.

Key Takeaways:

• Seselj, 45, a lawyer and acting deputy prime minister of Serbia, has a history of being a paramilitary commander during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, advocating for a "greater Serbia."
• Seselj has made threatening statements, including declaring that his men would "take out the eyes of Croatians with rusty spoons" and denying allegations of Serb troop rapes in Kosovo by saying the victims were too ugly for Serb men.
• Seselj threatened that when "the first allied bomb" fell on Serb soil, "there will be no Albanians left in Kosovo," a prophetic warning that nearly materialized after hundreds of thousands of Albanian Kosovars were driven out and thousands were killed by Serb troops.
• Seselj's withdrawal from the government could signal his attempt to take over, with the possibility of social unrest looming and Serbia's economy in tatters.
• Seselj's Serbian Radical Party is open to ethnic intolerance and has 82 seats in the Serb Parliament, making it the second-largest party.
• Milosevic has been severely shaken by NATO's destruction of Serbia and the apparent loss of Kosovo, considered Serbia's medieval heartland.

Statistics:

• 78 days: the length of NATOs bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
• 82 seats: the number of seats held by the Serbian Radical Party in the Serb Parliament.
• 110 seats: the number of seats held by Milosevic's Socialist-Communist coalition in the Serb Parliament.

Sources:

• [1] Reuters, Wednesday, May 26, 1999.
• [2] The Washington Post, late 1998.
• [3] International Herald Tribune, 1997.
• [4] Post ovtkrivanje : Novoc apology ekoloških problem nov zagrovod 2007