SERBIA: The party of the assassinated Serbian prime minister, Mr Zoran Djindjic, yesterday proposed for the post a senior ally, Mr Zoran Zivkovic, who immediately promised to crack down on the kind of organised criminals blamed for the killing.
The main board of the Democratic Party, the largest in the ruling DOS coalition, voted virtually unanimously for Mr Zivkovic's candidacy four days after a sniper shot Mr Djindjic dead outside the main government building in Belgrade.
Mr Zivkovic said he would fight organised crime and said a state of emergency, introduced by the government to help hunt down the gangster bosses the government says ordered the former prime minister's killing, should cease by the end of April.
"This is not a state of emergency for the citizens, but for the criminals," Mr Zivkovic told reporters after the vote in a 380-strong body.
"We want it to be as short as possible but its duration depends on how efficient we are in crushing this crime."
The nomination of the 42-year-old pro-Western politician could help ease fears of a power vacuum in the volatile Balkans but must be approved by parliament, where DOS parties hold a narrow majority.
The assembly meets tomorrow.
Wednesday's assassination of a man hailed by the West as a pro-democracy reformer who helped end the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milosevic raised fears of instability.
Appointing Mr Zivkovic prime minister would signal the ruling reformers' determination to continue with Western-backed political and economic reform introduced by Mr Djindjic.
Mr Zivkovic ruled out a broad-based government, which the opposition party of the former Yugoslavian president, Mr Vojislav Kostunica, had called for. - (Reuters)