Mr Slobodan Milosevic can legally stay in power until August next year irrespective of the result of the Yugoslav presidential elections.
The changes that he made to the constitution this year state that the President will continue in his work until his mandate expires. Mr Milosevic was made President in August 1997 with a four-year mandate.
This loophole ensures Mr Milosevic can remain President for a further nine months - even if he is defeated by the opposition challenger, Dr Vojislav Kostunica, who is currently tipped to win the elections on September 24th.
Mr Kostunica is streaming ahead in opinion polls, and every survey of voter sentiment predicts he will win in a head-to-head battle with Mr Milosevic in a second voting round. If Mr Milosevic is victorious, the clause is irrelevant as he will continue in power anyway. "It's very clever," said one lawyer. "It's perfect," said a pollster.
Two separate respected Belgrade lawyers, Ms Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, from the Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and Mr Bozo Prelevic, a former judge, confirm the changes in the constitution legally enable Mr Milosevic to stay in power.
The mandate of the President, according to Article 97, paragraph one, of the FRY constitution, says he is "elected by the federal Parliament for a period of four years".
Ms Kovacevic-Vuco says: "There is enough room for manoeuvre that he can stay in power until July next year."
Western diplomats in Belgrade say the changes in the constitution do not address the timing of the handover of power and can in theory legally allow Mr Milosevic to stay on until the expiry of his mandate.