Serbian PM Urges Voters To Approve New Constitution
BELGRADE (AP)--Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica urged his country Friday to overwhelmingly approve a new constitution that declares independence- seeking Kosovo an integral part of Serb territory.
Kostunica said in an interview published in the pro-government daily, Politika, that Serbian voters approving the charter in a nationwide referendum slated for Oct. 28-29, was more important to him than winning early parliamentary elections, expected in December.
Parliament approved the draft constitution this month.
Kostunica's comments reflect the government's intensified pro-referendum campaign in the face of criticism by several political figures here who have urged a boycott of the balloting.
The new constitution also defines the country as independent for the first time since the bloody breakup of the former, six-republic federation of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
"I am convinced this constitution will get sweeping approval by the citizens," Kostunica said in the interview, dismissing criticism that his Cabinet hastily drew up the draft and that there was no nationwide debate on the issue.
"I stand ready to lose (my post), as long as Serbia gets a new constitution," said Kostunica, who has seen waning support in Serbia.
More than half of Serbia's 6 million voters must approve the draft in the referendum before the new constitution can take effect.
The charter is likely to set Belgrade on another collision course with the West, for declaring the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo an inalienable part of Serbia.
It comes at a sensitive time, as U.N.-led negotiations between Belgrade and Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders on Kosovo's final status are entering a critical phase.
Earlier this month, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey rejected the Serbian parliament's approval of the constitution, saying the future of the rebellious, U.N.-run province will not be "decided unilaterally" but through a " negotiated process."
Among the loudest criticism, parliament speaker Bojan Kostres in Serbia's northern Vojvodina province called this week for a referendum boycott, claiming the charter didn't grant sufficient autonomy to Vojvodina - Serbia's breadbasket and richest region.
Some political parties from the Hungarian minority, which lives predominantly in Vojvodina, also back a boycott, as do several liberal groups.
Ethnic Albanians living in southern Serbia close to Kosovo said they would stay away. Serbian officials have said Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians won't be invited to vote on the draft constitution.
Kostunica said it was important the constitution "clearly defines Kosovo...integral within Serbia" and that the Kosovo Albanians' demand for independence was an "unjustifiable wish." (END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-13-060659ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20061013%5cACQDJON200610130659DOWJONESDJONLINE000536.htm&