Tadic claims victory for pro-Europeans in Serbian elections

Serbs have voted for close ties with Europe in parliamentary elections seen by many as crucial to the country's future.

With 85 per cent of the votes counted nationwide, the prominent election monitoring agency CeSID said that President Boris Tadic's pro-European block won 39 per cent of votes, leaving the ultranationalists in the Serbian Radical Party well behind with 29 per cent.

The conservative block of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica stood at just 11 per cent of votes.

The results surprised most analysts, as opinion polls prior to the elections showed anti-European parties taking a strong lead.

"The electorate of Serbia has clearly turned towards Europe," said Zoran Lucic, the head of CeSID. "Tadic's block has convincingly won these elections." The turnout was 60 per cent of the 6.7 million voters.

The next job for Mr Tadic and his pro-European forces is to form a new coalition government, most likely made up of members of his block, the small pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party and smaller minority parties.

"Serbian voters have confirmed the clear European path for Serbia," Mr Tadic said. "Serbs want to go down the road to European Union and Serbia will be in the EU."

Mr Tadic's insistence that Serbia sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU last week became a major target of ultranationalist in a smearing electoral campaign, as he was accused of trading "Kosovo for EU membership".

The southern province of Kosovo declared independence in February. Serbs consider it to be the cradle of their medieval state, although it is now ethnically dominated by Albanians. The recognition of Kosovo's independence by many EU countries and the US fuelled anti-Western feelings among many Serbs.

There remains a theoretical yet slim chance that Mr Kostunica, the Radicals and the Socialist Party of the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic could try to form a government. The Socialists made gains yesterday, winning about 8 per cent of votes, and could play a crucial role in such an effort.

Analysts say that the unexpected setback for nationalists has come as a result of the changes Serbia saw after Milosevic fell from power in 2000. Most Serbs are desperate for improved lifestyles. Family prosperity and security top the list of priorities as Serbia's economy has recovered since 2000.

The EU welcomed the projected victory of the pro-European forces in the election and said it meant Serbia would move faster towards the EU membership.

"The pro-European side in Serbia won, which was what we were aiming for in the EU," said Dimitrij Rupel, the Foreign Minister of Slovenia, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. Like Serbia, Slovenia used to be part of Yugoslavia.

"This means that Serbia will move forward ever faster to membership of the EU, and that the terrible episode of the Yugoslav war in the 1990s is forgotten; that people in southeastern Europe will be able to live together without prejudice," Mr Rupel said.

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