The World - News from May 18, 1989

Milan Pancevski, a politician from the republic of Macedonia who backed a crackdown on recent ethnic Albanian unrest, was chosen leader of Yugoslavia’s ruling Communist Party by the 23-member Politburo. Pancevski, 54, easily defeated rival Macedonian candidate Vasil Tupurkovski, the Tanjug news agency said. Pancevski supported the republic of Serbia in its bid to regain control of the southern province of Kosovo, where 24 people died in March in clashes between police and ethnic Albanians enraged over the loss of autonomy. He replaces Stipe Suvar, a Croat who often clashed with Serbia’s leaders. Pancevski will lead the party until December, when it will hold an emergency congress. All top party posts will come up for reelection then.