Yugoslavia's parliament is expected to approve on Saturday the makeup of a new federal government dominated by President Vojislav Kostunica's supporters, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The two-chamber parliament will meet on Friday to finalise administrative procedures and deputies are to discuss and vote on the nominations for the government, said Srdja Bozovic, a spokesman for the upper house, told the Tanjug news agency.
Kostunica has nominated Zoran Zizic of the Montenegrin Socialist People's party (SNP) to head the government, made up of the president's loyalists from the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), the SNP and experts from the independent liberal think-tank G-17.
Under the federal constitution, if the president comes from Serbia, as Kostunica does, then the prime minister should be Montenegrin and vice versa.
Zizic himself said on Monday that the new federal government would be formed by Saturday and that he would present his program to parliament on that day.
The government will have 14 ministries, down from the existing 30, with 60 percent of posts likely to be filled by DOS candidates and experts, including foreign and interior portfolios.
The DOS holds most of the seats in the new parliament, but lacks the majority needed to form a cabinet by itself.
The SNP profited from an anti-Milosevic boycott in Montenegro to sweep the board in the September 24 elections.
The tiny republic's pro-Western President Milo Djukanovic has reiterated that he will not join a federal government based on the elections, which were shunned by 80 percent of Montenegrins.
Djukanovic had also refused to participate in the elections which ousted Slobodan Milosevic from power, following constitutional changes adopted by Belgrade in July which Podgorica said had diminished its influence in the joint federation -- BELGRADE (AFP)
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