Post-Milosevic Serbs vote for new leader

Serbs voted yesterday in the first presidential election since the removal from power of Slobodan Milosevic.

Voters were choosing among 11 candidates all promising to take Serbia, the larger of the two remaining republics in the Yugoslav federation, out of the political and economic no-man's land that is Mr Milosevic's legacy. Neither of the front-runners, Vojislav Kostunica, the Yugoslav President, and Miroljub Labus, the more overtly pro-Western Vice-Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, were expected to gain an overall majority, which means a second round of elections will probably be needed on 13 October.

Analysts say the presidential elections are less about the candidate than about the pace of reforms in the post-Milosevic era. Reforms have been painful for Serbs, bringing price hikes, mass lay-offs, the bankruptcies of major state-owned firms and rapid privatisations.

Most Serbs blame the current Serbian government, headed by the pragmatic pro-Western Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who backs Mr Labus in the presidential campaign.

The current President of Serbia, Milan Milutinovic, has been indicted for war crimes.