After 2 1/2 months of pro-democratic protests, Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic conceded Tuesday the opposition won municipal elections in Belgrade and other Serb cities.
Milosevic's refusal to honor results from the fall elections triggered an unprecedented wave of unrest and anti-government protests for 77 straight days.Because the politically savvy Milosevic has alternately raised and dashed hopes that he would accept the opposition victories in 14 cities across Serbia, protest leaders reacted cautiously to Tuesday's announcement and said the rallies would continue.
When an opposition leader, Vuk Dras-kovic, told protesters assembled Tuesday in Belgrade of Milosevic's decision, the crowd responded with cries against the president of "Resign! Resign!"
But this latest act appeared to be a genuine attempt by the president to stop weeks of demonstrations and improve his government's international image.
The state-run news agency Tanjug said Milosevic instructed Premier Mirko Marjanovic to have the government pass a special law that will accept the Nov. 17 elections results as confirmed by international reviewers.
It was the first time since the crisis began that Milosevic had issued a written instruction to authorities that was made public.
"The election disputes have caused great damage to our country both domestically and internationally, and it was high time to solve the problem," Milosevic said in a letter to Marjanovic published by Tanjug.
Moving to defuse the biggest challenge to his rule since he came to power a decade ago, Milosevic said in a statement:
"I think that the state interest of improving relations of our country with the international community by far exceeds the significance of any number of seats in a handful of cities."
The announcement triggered initial jubilation among protesters but opposition leaders later said this was just the beginning.
"This is a first step, but it is not enough," said Zoran Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party.