Premier Milan Panic survived a second no-confidence vote in two months Tuesday, barely hanging onto the power to press his conciliatory policies against a barrage of Serb nationalist criticism.
A day after being roundly defeated in one house of the federal Parliament, Panic won a vote in the second house - the Chamber of Republics - by a margin of 18-17. A simple majority would have been enough to oust him.The dominant Socialist Party of Serbian President Slobodan Mi-lo-se-vic - the former Communists - accused Panic of betraying Serbia's cause by advocating peace with rival Croats and Bosnian Muslims.
Milosevic and his deputies were generally believed behind the move to oust Panic, whom they also accuse of being a foreign spy working under orders from the U.S. State Department.
But Panic, a Serbian-born California millionaire who became premier in July, has gained broad support from Yugoslavs tired of the war. That could challenge Milosevic's authority as Dec. 20 Yugoslav elections approach.
"Milosevic is avoiding free elections like an ugly woman avoids a mirror," said Vuk Draskovic, leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, the largest opposition party. "He is like a criminal who flees from justice."
Milosevic is seen by the international community as stoking the aggression by ethnic Serbs in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina, for which the U.N. sanctions were imposed.
The vote came as Belgrade was abuzz with rumors of an impending bloodless coup to unseat Panic and Yugoslavia's president, Dobrica Cosic.
At least 14,000 people have been killed in the fighting in Bosnia, and thousands of refugees continued to stream out of areas newly captured by Serb forces.