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Serbia in coalition scramble after ambivalent vote
Serbia's pro-European alliance sought a coalition deal with smaller parties on Monday to stave off a challenge from nationalist runners-up who say they too can form a government after Sunday's parliamentary election.
- Reuters
- Published: 13:34 May 12, 2008
Belgrade: Serbia's pro-European alliance sought a coalition deal with smaller parties on Monday to stave off a challenge from nationalist runners-up who say they too can form a government after Sunday's parliamentary election.
Monitors put the alliance led by the Democratic Party at 39 percent of the vote, ahead of the Radicals on 29 percent.
A rolling count by the state election commission put the Democrats at 36.7 percent and the Radical Party at 28.5 percent.
The election was fought on whether Serbs should swallow their anger over European Union support for the independence of Kosovo, the Serb province which seceded in February, or turn their backs on the bid for European Union membership.
The Democrats' leader, President Boris Tadic, said: "Serbs have undoubtedly confirmed a clear European path."
"This is a great victory, but it's not over yet", and the Democrats now had to "form a government as soon as possible."
The Radicals' leader, Tomislav Nikolic, said the Democrats had jumped the gun and there were "clear possibilities of a coalition which does not include the Democratic Party".
Nikolic said he would talk to the two parties that share the Radicals' ideology, the Democratic Party of Serbia led by outgoing nationalist premier Vojislav Kostunica and the Socialists of the late Slobodan Milosevic.
Either these three parties would form a coalition, he predicted, or: "Serbia will not have a government at all and we'll have to go to new elections".
Serbia's currency and fledgling stock market rallied on the vote result, with traders now waiting for coalition news.
Dragana Ignjatovic, analyst for business intelligence firm Global Insight, said Serbia was in for protracted negotiations.
"Serbia is still divided, the Radicals and Kostunica have weakened slightly while the Socialists are seeing a resurgence," she said.
EU applause
The European Union welcomed the result as "a clear victory to the pro-EU parties".
"We look forward to work closely with a new government formed on this mandate," said a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
The EU had made its preference clear before the vote, offering Belgrade a pre-membership pact and a visa facilitation deal that are implicitly conditioned on a Democrat win.
The main pro-EU parties campaigned as one and consolidated their votes in one bloc, slightly increasing their share of the vote over the last election in January 2007.
But they still made no great inroads into overall nationalist support, which remained at about 50 percent of the 6.7 million electorate, spread among three parties.
One of the Democrats' choices for a coalition would be an alliance with the small Liberal Democratic Party and minorities.
An alternative would be to ally with Milosevic's Socialists, a favoured option because it would form a stronger coalition and the Democrats were ready to make concessions.
A coalition with Kostunica, Tadic's ally in the eight-month government that collapsed in March, was seen as unlikely.
Kostunica insists Kosovo is more important than eventual EU membership and has cited "unbridgeable differences" with Tadic over the country's future direction. However, he has yet to respond openly to the Radicals' overtures.
Official results are due by Thursday night. Parliament must convene by mid-June and a government be formed by mid-September or the country must hold a new election.
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