Vote Tests Serb Support for Compromise : Balkans: Election in disputed Krajina region could signal whether residents back a land-swap settlement or more war.

Bullet-riddled buildings and abandoned streets and regression to a peasant lifestyle spoke louder than any campaign poster in persuading Ankica Milobratovic that Sunday’s election in the disputed Krajina region marked a time for compromise.

Like other Serbs tired of suffering for the nationalist goal of being united in one country, the 34-year-old Milobratovic said she so yearns for an end to war and hardship that she can even imagine once again living under Croatian rule.

“At this point I would be afraid to go back to living with those people,” she said of the Croats who were driven out of Krajina by victorious Serbian forces in 1991. “But with time, anything is possible. Look how the world felt about the Germans after World War II, yet after some time we even went to Germany to work.”

As the Balkans war approaches what Serbs here hope is its end game, a land swap that would split conquered territories between Serbia and Croatia is beginning to strike some as a solution far preferable to another war.

Serbs in the occupied areas of Croatia were called to the polls to choose a president and parliament for the seized territory they have proclaimed the independent Republic of Serbian Krajina.

Neither the state nor Sunday’s vote for leadership has earned recognition from the outside world, but the election was significant as a test of whether Krajina residents are leaning toward compromise or a fight to the death for independence.

The presidents of Serbia and Croatia, chief patrons of the Balkans war, have been discussing a deal that would allow Belgrade to retain rule over the Serb-occupied eastern parts of Croatia, in exchange for Zagreb recovering control over the rest.

In conjunction with a proposed division of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Krajina split would allow Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to proclaim a Greater Serbia.

Croatia would also benefit, as recovery of the western Krajina regions would restore transport and communications with the economically vital Adriatic Sea coast.

Final results of the races for president and a 120-seat parliament are not expected for several days.

The key issue Sunday was the presidential race between two nationalist hard-liners who were once allies, Krajina militia commander Milan Martic and Knin Mayor Milan Babic.

Martic was at the forefront of the deadly 1991 Serbian drive to break from Croatia, but nationalist sponsors in Serbia and Bosnia are believed to have persuaded him to sacrifice the more distant reaches of meandering Krajina as the price for creating Greater Serbia.

Babic, however, represents the uncompromising hard core in Knin, which is most vulnerable to sacrifice as it is the farthest point on the supply line from Belgrade.

Those who voted for Babic tended to prefer another conflict to capitulating to Zagreb rule.

While the implications of their presidential choices may not have been clear to all Krajina voters, some polled in this western outpost--which is almost certain to revert to Croatian rule--said they were ready to face reality.

Milobratovic recalled that until 1991, her family lived in a modern house with every convenience. Their house weathered six months of shelling with little more than broken windows, while much of the rest of Petrinja was reduced to rubble.

But because war destroyed the civilian economy, both she and her husband lost their publishing jobs. They were forced to move to an abandoned farmhouse where they could grow food for their survival.

“We lived so much better before this war. There is just no comparison,” said the demoralized woman as she picked her way across a blighted landscape of shell-blasted houses and icy streets that no one bothers to clear of snow because there is no gasoline for cars or buses.

She voted for Martic in hopes that he is more ready to accept the deals being made between Belgrade and Zagreb.

“Anything would be better than another war,” said Milobratovic, who has two children.

In contrast with her pragmatism, there remain many opposed to any settlement that would trade their independence for peace.

“I don’t think this can be resolved without another war,” said Djura Vincic, a Krajina soldier braving the bone-chilling cold with his wife and children to cast their ballots for Babic.

“Today we are voting to keep Krajina free.”

No foreign observers were invited to monitor the vote or the counting. Because of the split between Martic and Babic factions, there were fears that voting irregularities would be rampant.

Krajina is swollen with Serb refugees from other areas of Croatia who have nearly doubled its prewar population to an estimated 250,000. Few of the newcomers are believed to have registered to vote amid the chaos of life on the move in shattered war zones.

“This election is meaningless for the Serbs because the voting conditions are suspect and no one will recognize the results, but, paradoxically, it is interesting for Croatia,” said Zarko Puhovski, a Serbian professor of political philosophy in the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

Puhovski believes that both sides have been exhausted by the conflict, and that the once-unthinkable compromise of restoring much of the Krajina to Croatian rule is becoming more palatable as an alternative to renewed war.

Krajina officials, except for the hard-liners in Knin, tend to agree with him, even in areas such as Petrinja, destined for sacrifice to a peaceful settlement.

“We will have to wait for the results, but Martic is definitely the stronger candidate,” said Smilja Popovic, head of the local electoral commission.

Her confident prediction reflected a personal preference, but it also indicated the choice of Belgrade authorities who supply Krajina and could easily isolate regions that refuse to compromise for the good of Greater Serbia.

Krajina Dilemma: Land or Peace

Croatian and Serbian leaders are discussing a land swap under which the eastern territory or Serb-occupied Krajina would go to Serbia and the larger western region would go to Croatia. Sunday’s election is seen as a test of whether Krajina residents are leaning toward the compromise--and peace--or a fight to the death for independence.