Woe for Milosevic's wife

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Slobodan Milosevic's family was doubly humiliated in Serbia's elections, with the neo-communist party of the former Yugoslav president's wife Mirjana Markovic crashing out of parliament.

Based on returns from more than 40 percent of polling stations, her Yugoslav Left (JUL) was supported by just 0.39 percent of voters, far below the five percent needed to enter parliament, the election commission said on Sunday.

JUL had by then received only 7,188 votes from Saturday's general election, a dramatic reversal in political fortune for the party of Markovic, a powerful figure in Yugoslavia's reclusive leadership while her husband was still in power. In the outgoing Serbian legislature, a key power centre, Markovic's JUL and Milosevic's Socialists together had 110 of the 250 seats, forming a coalition government together with the ultra-nationalist Radical Party.

"Today's elections will go down in Serbia's history with black letters," JUL spokeswoman Dragana Kuzmanovic said on Saturday night as the party's defeat became clear.

"These elections were marked by the rule that no rule was obeyed," she was quoted as saying.

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In the new assembly dominated by the same reformers who toppled Milosevic as Yugoslav president two-and-a-half months ago, JUL will have no seats at all while the Socialists were on course to get around 38 seats -- its worst result ever.

The election completed the takeover of power by allies of new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica following their victory in September federal elections and October's popular uprising which forced Milosevic to concede defeat.

But Markovic, who grew up with Milosevic in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac where they were high-school sweethearts, still holds some influence.

She was elected deputy in the federal Yugoslav parliament on September 24, the same day her husband lost the presidential vote to Kostunica.

JUL, which professes to leftist ideas but gathered together members of Serbia's wealthy elite in the Milosevic era, won influence mainly because of Markovic's family ties.

Some officials in Milosevic's Socialist party blamed its weak showing in September's elections on its coalition with JUL.

In a rare news conference earlier this month, Markovic appeared as defiant as her husband, denouncing the U.N. court which indicted him on Kosovo war crimes charges.

She also denied allegations that her family had grown wealthy during the turbulent years he was in power.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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