Serbians Vote; Communists Try to Keep Power

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Serbians cast ballots Sunday in a referendum called by the republic’s ruling Communists, who are attempting to retain power by exploiting rising Serbian anger over ethnic Albanian separatism in Kosovo province.

The referendum asks voters in Serbia, the largest of Yugoslavia’s six republics, to approve a Communist political program that calls for the enactment of a new constitution before promised multi-party elections.

The Communists have proposed a constitution that eliminates virtually all autonomy for Kosovo, where the 1.7-million-strong ethnic Albanian majority has called for independence. The Albanian demand has outraged the rest of Serbia.