Serbs vote for a new Parliament

BELGRADE: Serbs voted Sunday in a closely contested parliamentary election between pro-Western democrats and nationalists to determine whether the Balkan nation drifts toward mainstream Europe or returns to its wartime nationalist past.



The vote was the first since the breakup of Serbia's union last year with Montenegro, its last partner from the former Yugoslavia, which split up in the 1990s. Turnout was about 46 percent in the first 10 hours of voting, according to Cesid, an independent Serbian polling group, indicating strong interest among the electorate of 6.6 million. Parties must receive a minimum 5 percent of the vote to enter the 250-seat Parliament.



Shortly after the vote, a United Nations plan for the future of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province is expected to be published. Many in the West fear that Europe could face a crisis if the nationalist Serbian Radical Party emerges as the outright winner Sunday and the UN plan calls for the independence of Kosovo.



"We will win and make sure that Kosovo remains part of Serbia," Tomislav Nikolic, leader of the Radicals, said Sunday after he cast his ballot.



Challenging the Radicals in the vote were the Western-backed Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic and the center-right Popular Coalition, led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Tadic and Kostunica have lobbied internationally to keep Kosovo within Serbia, offering broad autonomy to its majority ethnic Albanians, who are insisting on full independence. Unlike the Radicals, Tadic and Kostunica have pledged to resolve the Kosovo crisis by peaceful means.

Kosovo has been an international protectorate since the 1998-99 war between Serbian troops and separatist ethnic Albanians.

Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who is overseeing talks on the future of the region, is expected to present a proposal for Kosovo's future to diplomats on Friday that many say will include some sort of conditional independence.

None of the top three groups in the vote Sunday was likely to win an outright majority to govern alone, surveys have shown. Analysts have predicted that a new cabinet could be a coalition of Tadic's and Kostunica's parties, possibly backed by a few groups representing ethnic minorities.

But Kostunica, who headed Serbia's government over the past three years, has not ruled out forming a coalition with the Radicals in order to stay in power.

Tadic said Sunday that his Democrats would win most votes "but will not be able to form a government alone."