GOTOV JE (He's Finished)! Part 1

The decision to have elections a year before the due day (he had the power to call elections any time he wants), caught the opposition in a state of chaos. Different parties tried to push their leaders into the position of candidate for the President. In the first few weeks it seemed to me that all was lost, since there was no sign that the opposition could unite, let alone choose one man who would win the support of dozens of different parties.

After long days and nights of negotiations the opposition united, apart from Vuk Draskovic's party SPO (the Serbian movement for reconstruction – it's sometimes nonsense to translate names of our parties). SPO pushed their man for the presidential run, and the rest of opposition united as DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia, not Disk Operating System) and chose Vojislav Kostunica as its candidate.

Vojislav Kostunica is a man who in the past 10 years did nothing. He was present on the political scene of Serbia, first as a member of Democratic Party but later he decided to follow his ideas and formed the Democratic Party of Serbia.

By doing so he had a chance to speak his mind, and he did so every time he had a chance. During his days in opposition he never organized any rally, demonstration or walk. He never tried to challenge Milosevic on the "street" in a way many other opposition leaders did. But most of all he never gave any promise he couldn't fulfill, and he never changed his mind once he spoke it. Kostunica was not weak by any means. He waited for the right time to win power in a lawful way, as he always said. His moment came on September 24th 2000.

Presidential campaigning in Yugoslavia was impossible. Milosevic ruled all media, and since freedom of speech was suppressed, Kostunica had to walk around Serbia and introduce himself and his ideas to the people. He traveled many miles, talked for hours, and visited every place in Serbia, including those where he was not welcomed. In doing so, his popularity rose rapidly and in a matter of weeks people started to talk about him as the right man for our new president.

Milosevic tried to stop this trend, and attacked Kostunica on TV and in the papers, calling him and DOS NATO servants, traitors of the state, and many other things. Milosevic's attacks went so far that he ordered his goons to throw rocks, paint and dead cats on Kostunica during one of his public speeches. Every night one could see a mob, going trough the town, tearing down Kostunica billboards and posters, beating people who protested against them.

The student's resistance organization OTPOR, which became people's resistance organization was quick to react, and operation "HE'S FINISHED!" (GOTOV JE!) was born. Using black spray cans, people went trough cities all over Serbia, and inscribed the words HE'S FINISHED! on the houses, streets, city squares, and other places. Billboards can be destroyed, posters can be torn down, but graffiti is almost forever.

In fear of the Milosevic special police and hired gangsters, but with great hope for a victory, people waited for 24 September.

On that day I went to vote, and waited almost half an hour before doing so. It seemed to me that everyone with the right to vote was there, and that gave me great hope that this time we would have a new president,a new government and a normal life. And I was right, as results started to come from all over the country saying only one thing – HE'S FINISHED! Kostunica won by a large majority. Serbia celebrated. Slobodan Milosevic and his men were terrified and in shock.

The first reaction of the now-defeated Milosevic was to organize another theft of the elections, by dissolving the State Election Committee responsible for counting the votes. Representatives of DOS, SPO, and other parties were thrown out of the assembly building. By doing so, Milosevic bought some time, to open "virtual" voting places, most of them in occupied Kosovo, print some extra voting papers and circle his name on them, turning Kostunica's victory into a draw. He asked for a runoff (second round of elections), but DOS went out in public with the true figures of the number of votes.

People went out in the streets of Belgrade almost every day and night, as Kostunica promised that victory was going to be defended. From 24 September to 4 October we walked the streets of Belgrade and held meetings in the city square almost every day. The same thing was happening in cities all over the country, and even in those that had supported Milosevic for a long time.

Our requests to count the votes again and publish the truth about the elections were in vain. On 2 October the State Election Committee, without representatives from opposition parties, issued a statement that there would be a runoff. DOS and Kostunica objected and appealed to the Supreme Court, who overruled their appeal to proclaim the presidential elections nullified because of the number of errors found in the work of the State Election Committee. That was on 4 October. People were angry, revolted, and determined to go to the bitter end. We had cast our votes, we knew who won the election; there was no one who possibly could steal our voices and our victory. We decided the time had come to "push" our new president Vojislav Kostunica into the assembly building.

P.S. I'm sorry for the delay, but Yugoslavia is still in chaos. It's still unclear who is in control of the Army and Police forces, and the prices of food and fuel are going up every day. There is no government on any level, and DOS is in constant talks with left-wing parties. We experience power shortages, and water restrictions on a daily basis, and because the police are divided between those who are for Milosevic (Secret police, anti terrorist teams, etc) and those who are for Kostunica (regular street police, traffic police, etc) crime has reached terrible levels. So, please, start with this and I will write the rest of story in one of two days, if we have power. (13/10/00)