Zoran Djindjic, Serbia's prime minister, gunned down in Belgrade last month, was not outrightly popular. His shock therapy economic strategy, which led to high prices and unemployment, hit the electorate hard.
Still, the reformer who led the overthrow of Milosevic, sent him to the war crimes tribunal and set about building a new economic and democratic future for the country and region, was widely mourned. Alongside politicians from over 40 countries, several hundred thousand Serbs flocked to his funeral, covering the streets with flowers.
| Djindjic: his legacy may be a greater |
Djindjic understood the need to make difficult decisions and was unapologetic about carrying them through. "The population is not happy to have high prices and low salaries, but I don't intend to concentrate my policies on opinion polls," he told Euromoney last year. "We have to do very tough things."
His death is a wake up call to Serbia's pro-democracy forces. He was seen as the one person who could bring the region together and who helped form the decentralised union of Serbia and Montenegro last year.