Yugoslav election complaints rejected

Mr Milosevic has kept a low profile since the election

Yugoslavia's Federal Electoral Commission has rejected as "baseless" all complaints by the opposition of voting irregularities in last Sunday's presidential election.

The commission said in a statement that Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) candidate Vojislav Kostunica would have to go into a second-round run-off vote against President Slobodan Milosevic on 8 October.

Mr Milosevic has faced down opposition protests before

The DOS had lodged a series of complaints and demanded a comparison of the official voting records with those gathered by opposition monitors.

In a separate development, the UN Human Rights Rapporteur for the Balkans, Jiri Dienstbier, said he had heard that President Slobodan Milosevic had "refused" Russian mediation in the disputed presidential vote.

There has been no official word on this from the authorities in Belgrade.

We will continue with the rallies over the weekend and start a general strike on Monday to grind Serbia to a standstill

Opposition spokesman Zoran Djindjic

Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, had earlier said he was ready to send his Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to mediate in the election crisis.

"We are ready to be more active in the process" Mr Putin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.

The Russian leader added that "the position of Russia is clear: the Yugoslav people, and only the Yugoslav people, must decide their ultimate fate."

General strike

The DOS has called for a general strike from Monday, unless the government concedes that Mr Kostunica won the presidential elections outright.

Vojislav Kostunica has called for a recount

About 20,000 people attended an opposition rally in Belgrade on Friday. But that was far less than the turnout for a rally on Wednesday and the BBC correspondent in Belgrade says the opposition campaign has got off to a patchy start.

The army has refused an opposition invitation to discuss a peaceful transfer of power.

Western leaders have added their voices to the opposition's demand for Mr Milosevic to step down.

Official results

Vojislav Kostunica: 48.96% or 2,474,392 votes

Slobodan Milosevic: 38.62% or 1,951,761 votes

7,200,000 registered voters

69.7% of voters cast ballots

Source: Federal Election Commission

The US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said the opposition had "presented a persuasive case that they won in the first round" and there was no need for any recount.

He reiterated the US rejection of any deals with Mr Milosevic, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague for alleged war crimes in Kosovo.

"The position is: out of power, out of Yugoslavia and in The Hague," he said.

Kosovo election 'lie'

The UN administrator for Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, said the figure of 140,000 votes for President Milosevic in Kosovo was a "lie".

The UN mission had witnessed no more than 45,000 voters going to the polls in the province, he said.

There have been rumours in Belgrade that Mr Milosevic may be planning an escape route to Russia.

But the BBC correspondent in Belgrade, Jacky Rowland, says such a scenario still appears some way off.