With his jaw trembling a bit, Slobodan Milosevic appeared before a TV audience on October 6. He finally admitted that he had lost the Yugoslav presidential election (see Yugoslavia’s Sore Loser, 10/6). Milosevic congratulated the winner, Vojislav Kostunica. The next day Kostunica was sworn in as President.
Defeat did not come easily for Milosevic, who had ruled Yugoslavia with an iron hand for 13 years. It took almost two weeks of strikes and protests to force Milosevic out. On October 5, as many as half a million people swarmed into Belgrade, the nation’s capital. When the crowd stormed government buildings, even some policemen joined in.
From a balcony, Kostunica cried, "A great and beautiful (country) has risen up so Slobodan Milosevic will leave!" Now it will be up to him to make democracy work.