Serb power struggle intensifies

Kostunica has hinted he plans to stand for the Serbian presidency in September

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The party of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has been expelled from the Serbian parliament, stepping up a fierce power struggle between the reformers who ousted Slobodan Milosevic.

The decision by the parliament's administrative committee was the latest blow in an increasingly bitter political feud between Kostunica and Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic ahead of September elections for the Serbian presidency.

Djindjic's allies had kicked Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) out of Serbia's ruling DOS alliance on Friday, a move the committee implemented on Monday by stripping the party of its parliamentary seats.

Kostunica's position as president of the wider federation of Yugoslavia -- consisting of Serbia plus the smaller Montenegro -- is unaffected by the expulsion but it is seen as sending a signal for the future.

EXTRA INFORMATION In-depth: Yugoslav in transition

The two leaders who united to bring down former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 are now bitter rivals.

Kostunica criticises Djindjic for riding roughshod over Serbian interests and laws, while Djindjic accuses Kostunica of obstructing free market reforms.

Western diplomats have warned that political instability in one of the poorest corners in Europe is deterring foreign investments, badly needed after a decade of warfare and international isolation during the Milosevic era.

Djindjic's camp says the 45 seats of Kostunica's party in the 250-seat parliament of Yugoslavia's dominant republic now belong to the alliance, whose break-up has been predicted ever since it was formed to topple Milosevic.

The seats were won on the DOS ticket in a general election shortly after the ousting of Milosevic, now standing trial at The Hague for alleged war crimes committed by his forces during the violent collapse of old Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

"The DSS has lost its seats in the Serbian parliament because it completely abandoned the election programme on the basis of which it won those seats," Cedomir Jovanovic, parliamentary group leader of the coalition, told B92 radio.

Djindic has accused Kostunica of obstructing free market reforms

DSS officials branded the move illegal and said they did not accept it. They accused their rivals of introducing a dictatorship and of trampling on the will of voters in order to strengthen their grip on power in a style reminiscent of Milosevic.

"This will result in more tension and cause more conflicts in the country," said party official Petar Cvetkovic.

Another Kostunica ally, Dejan Mihajlov, threatened criminal charges against those behind the party's expulsion.

The power struggle has intensified ahead of the September 29 election for the powerful Serbian presidency, in which Kostunica is expected to stand against Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, an economics professor who is close to Djindjic.

One reason Kostunica wants to stand, analysts say, is that his present post might be eliminated after Yugoslavia is formally replaced by a new country called Serbia and Montenegro.

Recent opinion polls show the Yugoslav president and Djindic are almost equal in the popularity ratings.

Kostunica's DSS party had already quit the DOS bloc, which has a clear parliamentary majority, in all but name before it was formally expelled on Friday.

It launched a boycott of parliament last month in protest at the sacking by DOS of 21 of its deputies on the grounds that they had failed to show up at debates and delayed key reforms.

DOS decided to expel Kostunica's party altogether after a top court overturned the move to sack the truant deputies.

Monday's committee decision formally takes effect when it is read out at a session of parliament, a DOS source told Reuters.