A fearsome duel in Yugoslavia's parliamentary elections is shaping up between the woman known to her foes as "the Red Witch" and opponents she brands "semi-savages."
She is Mirjana Markovic, powerful wife of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. In Sunday's vote, she heads a neo-Communist platform with her hus-band, who needs control of the Yugoslav parliament to achieve his next goal of becoming president of Yugoslavia.Their opponents, thanks to widespread discontent at economic woes, appear to have their best chance of denting Milosevic's hold on power since he was elected Serbian president in 1990.
Markovic is emerging from her husband's shadow and making her first open bid for power in Yugoslavia.
Favorite targets of 52-year-old Markovicare opposition leader Vuk Draskovic and wife Danica.
Markovic called Danica Draskovic the right-wing "android." Danica retorted that Markovic is the left-wing "mongoloid."
In her personal diary, regularly published in the Duga weekly, Markovic described the Draskovics as "inferior people . . . with the habits of semi-savage herders and highwaymen who wait to rob people of baggage and children."