ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, December 16, 1996              TAG: 9612160150
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
SOURCE: Associated Press

MILOSEVIC RESTORES RIVALS' WIN OPPONENTS SAY THEY `DON'T WANT ANY DEALS'

A court controlled by President Slobodan Milosevic restored a key election victory to his political foes in an apparent attempt to placate anti-government protesters, the opposition said Sunday.

Although voting lists showed that the opposition coalition clearly won the Nov. 17 municipal elections in Nis, Serbia's second-largest city, the local electoral commission proclaimed Milosevic's Socialists the winners.

Courts or commissions annulled opposition victories in more than a dozen Serbian cities, touching off nearly four weeks of daily protests by tens of thousands of people - the largest against Milosevic since he came to power in 1987. Milosevic called for repeat municipal elections in some cities, which the opposition boycotted as it appealed the rulings.

Nis is the first city where the courts, which are under Milosevic's control, ruled in favor of the opposition.

Opposition officials in Nis said the Socialists probably will appeal the ruling, which also said that the opposition victory should be officially reinstated within 10 days.

The ruling, mailed to the opposition, could not immediately be confirmed as the court was closed Sunday. It apparently was made Friday or Saturday.

``The ruling gives us hope that some legality remains in Serbia,'' said Zoran Zivkovic, a Nis official of the opposition coalition Zajedno, or Together. ``But we'll now have to wait and see if our victory will officially be proclaimed or the Communists will pull out a new trick.''

``We'll continue protesting until all those who have falsified our victory are prosecuted,'' he added. In a sign of solidarity with the opposition, 11 Nis students started a 150-mile march to Belgrade.

Opposition officials had anticipated that Milosevic might hand over Nis - in Serbia's economically battered industrial zone - to the opposition in exchange for keeping control of the capital Belgrade and other major cities.

``We don't want any deals with Milosevic,'' said an opposition leader, Zoran Djindjic.

LENGTH: Short :   48 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Thousands of Belgrade citizens march through the 
          streets of the Yugoslav capital Sunday during the 25th consecutive 
          day of protests against Milosevic's autocratic policies.