Who's Against Tito?

Many pundits believe that the U.S. takes too long to nominate and elect a new President. Nobody could make that charge against Communist Yugoslavia, a dictatorship which is trying harder & harder to assume democratic trappings. One day last week Yugoslavia's Parliament met to select a President in line with the nation's new constitutional reforms. Sounding for all the world like a Balkan Alben Barkley, old Yugoslav Communist Jovan Vesilinov rose to his feet to place in nomination the name of that great statesman, that friend of the people--Marshal Josip Broz Tito. The Parliament cheered. Were there any other nominations? asked Speaker Josip Vidmar. The Parliament roared with laughter.

Within minutes, ballot cards were passed out bearing a single name--Tito. The members were told to underline the name if they favored Tito, cross it out if they were against him, leave the card untouched if they wanted to abstain. The 569 members marked their cards, gravely carried them to the front of the house and dropped them into the ballot boxes. Clerks tallied the count, handed the totals to the speaker. With an air of shocked surprise, he announced the result: 568 votes for Marshal Tito; one vote against him.

Who had dared to cast the dissident vote? Nobody knew, but many guessed: it might have been Tito, still hard at work preserving the appearance of democracy.

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