Serbian Officials Ignore Court’s Decision, Block Panic’s Candidacy

Election officials loyal to Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic refused again Sunday to put federal Prime Minister Milan Panic on the Dec. 20 presidential ballot, an action the prime minister brushed off as evidence that his hard-line rival is “in panic.”

Despite a Supreme Court decision Saturday overturning the Serbian Elections Commission ruling that Panic was ineligible, the commission reiterated its position less than 24 hours later, claiming that Panic fails to meet residency requirements to challenge Milosevic.

“This is great. We have a Supreme Court decision and they won’t follow it. It just shows that Slobodan Milosevic is in panic,” Panic (pronounced PAN-isch) observed with his usual ebullience. “They know I would win and they can’t stand it.”

Beaming and munching a sandwich as he caucused with supporters at his election headquarters, Panic said the latest poll results tabulated by his staff show he would win if the election were held today.

“Milan Panic will never quit. We are in this race and we are going to win,” he said, dismissing the latest obstacle as “just more Mickey Mouse.”

Despite Panic’s confident forecasts, support for Milosevic remains strong in the rural areas of Serbia, and many potential opposition supporters say they are too fed up with the Balkan war and its ensuing economic catastrophe to bother voting at all.

The last word on whether the 62-year-old Southern California businessman will be put on the ballot has yet to be spoken.

Among the appeals launched by the Panic team after his initial disqualification on Thursday was a request to the Serbian Constitutional Court to rule on the validity of a law requiring presidential candidates to show proof they have lived in Serbia for at least one year.

Panic arrived in Belgrade in July to take on the job of prime minister of the last two republics composing Yugoslavia, now seen by the West as an outlaw state responsible for much of the bloodshed racking Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The prime minister, who has retained the U.S. citizenship he earned while living in the United States for the past three decades, said he expects the Constitutional Court to strike down the residency law enacted by Milosevic supporters only a month ago with the clear intent of barring Panic.