Serbia’s President Dissolves Its Parliament : Balkans: Milosevic’s call for new elections follows split between his party and ultranationalist satellite. It heads off no-confidence vote.

In a bid to strengthen his grip on power, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic dissolved his Parliament on Wednesday and called early elections for Dec. 19.

The move follows the collapse of an unofficial coalition between Milosevic’s ruling Socialist Party and its ultranationalist satellite, the Serbian Radical Party, headed by Vojislav Seselj.

Milosevic, widely seen as chief instigator of the violent carve-up of neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina, seized the initiative by calling parliamentary elections three years ahead of schedule to avoid a no-confidence motion in the government that earlier counted on support from his former protege Seselj.

Milosevic is in a race against time to hold elections before winter sets in and Serbian citizens plunge even deeper into the poverty and isolation brought on by two years of waging war and 17 months of U.N. sanctions imposed against the rump Yugoslavia--the republics of Serbia and Montenegro--for Belgrade’s role in fomenting the Bosnian bloodshed.

By calling for another vote to take place just a year after he won office, Milosevic appears confident his Socialists will win a majority and gain absolute control over Parliament.

The government crisis emerged last month when Serbia’s legislature split between Milosevic and Seselj camps, with the latter calling a no-confidence vote in the leadership handpicked by Milosevic.

In an unprecedented personal attack, Seselj lashed out at Milosevic for “his unconstitutional moves evidently proposed out of fear and panic.”

Until last month, Serbia’s Socialists--who hold 101 of the 250 Parliament seats--were bolstered by the Radicals, who make up about one-quarter of the legislative body.

Milosevic once described Seselj as his favorite “opposition” politician.

But he has since turned on the extremist who commands a fierce paramilitary unit, probably hoping to increase his room for political maneuver.

He needs to get rid of Seselj and symbolically clean out nationalist extremists in the hope of improving Serbia’s international image to get the painful sanctions eased or lifted.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger named Seselj in a roster of proposed war criminals for an international tribunal.

Diplomats based in Belgrade, the Serbian and Yugoslav capital, believe that Milosevic is looking to make a deal with his Croatian and Muslim adversaries in Bosnia to reach a settlement of the Balkan crisis that would win the lifting or easing of the sanctions.

The United Nations imposed the sanctions, including an oil embargo, to punish Serbia for its arming and instigating of nationalist rebels in Bosnia.

Milosevic is aware that popular discontent with rising economic deprivation could explode over the next few months as the republic struggles through winter.

Inflation is running at 2,000% per month, shops are empty and cities face an imminent cutoff of heat and public transportation.

However, Milosevic appears to be counting on fear and uncertainty among the increasingly anxious 10 million inhabitants to bring his party to victory.

“He is staying a step ahead of the collapse of the government. He knows that winter elections favor his governing party. They might not win in the spring when everything explodes,” said a Western diplomat.

In the proposal for the dissolution of Parliament, a Serbian government statement said: “The Parliament has become a political bazaar. . . . (T)he situation in Parliament threatens national unity and state interests.”

But Milosevic’s preemptive strike in holding early elections finds a quarrelsome and disorganized opposition, which would be hard pressed to mount a serious challenge to the ruling Socialists.

Milosevic, who has consistently outwitted his opponents, obviously believes he can further discredit his onetime ally Seselj, who over the past month has been the target of a smear campaign on state-run television.

Speaking on TV Serbia, Milosevic blamed unnamed parties for “blocking Parliament” and called on Serbs to elect a leadership they can take pride in.