Rival Draws Far Bigger Crowd Than Milosevic

More than 150,000 people jammed the streets outside parliament Wednesday, jeering at Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and chanting, “He’s finished!” in an election rally for his top opponent that dwarfed a pro-Milosevic gathering nearby.

Opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica promised a “different Serbia” in an address to the crowd outside the federal parliament building in Belgrade, the Yugoslav and Serbian capital. The boisterous display of anti-Milosevic sentiment came ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections Sunday.

“There is a great chance and hope that after [Sunday’s] elections, we will begin a new life in a different Serbia,” Kostunica told the joyful crowd, concluding his speech with: “May God help you to have enough courage . . . to win freedom! For Serbia!”

Milosevic labeled his opponents “rats and hyenas” while on a campaign stop earlier Wednesday in Montenegro, the smaller of Yugoslavia’s two republics.

In Belgrade, Milosevic later addressed about 10,000 supporters in a sports hall across the Sava River.

Polls show Kostunica with a double-digit lead over Milosevic. There are fears, however, that Milosevic would not concede a loss and could try to stay in power by rigging the vote or imposing martial law.