Pending official results expected in the next two days, as polls closed in Serbia’s May 11 elections, the outcome was expected to be close with a relatively low turnout seen as likely to boost nationalist forces seeking to turn the country’s back on the West.
The snap parliamentary elections were held on a date originally meant only for local elections, and were called after the Serbian government foundered over divisions about the country’s possible future with the European Union. Serbia’s EU policy hit turbulence after Kosovo declared independence on February 17 2008.
Bulgaria’s Focus news agency reported Radio Television of Serbia had said that the non-governmental Center for Free Elections and Democracy announced that Boris Tadic’s pro-Western For European Serbia ticket had won parliamentary 100 seats, the Serbian Radical Party 86 seats and the Democratic Party of Serbia 30. Should such a result be confirmed, ultra-nationalist and nationalist forces could form a coalition.
Deutsche Welle reported from Belgrade on May 11 after polls closed that the weak turnout, variously estimated to be from 54 to about 60 per cent, could work in favour of the Radicals, who have a reliable and highly-motivated following outraged at the policy of many EU and other Western countries regarding Kosovo.
Although no party was expected to have won sufficient support to form a government on its own, observers were expected that one possible scenario was that the ultra-nationalist Radicals could form a coalition with the party of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica. This would signal a turn away from the pro-Western path followed by president Boris Tadic, who has had Western support in the campaign for the May 11 snap polls, in spite of his sharing the majority Serbian view that Kosovo should be an inalienable part of Serbia.
In defiance of the opposition from many Western countries, Serbia arranged voting in northern Serbia. The voting on Kosovo territory was rejected in a statement by UNMIK head Joachim Ruecker, who said: “Illegal elections cannot have legal consequences. Their outcome will not be recognised”.
Ruecker said that Serbia had acted against the relevant United Nations resolution, “being aware that they act in defiance of UNMIK, which, according to Resolution 1244, is the only one to allow elections in Kosovo”.
The Associated Press reported that Kosovo's ethnic Albanian deputy prime minister, Hajredin Kuqi, had urged Serbs not to take part in the voting.
“We invite all our Serbian citizens not to participate in such elections,” Kuqi said. “They are illegal elections and institutions will not be created according to these elections.”
The BBC reported that Tadic and his allies had hailed the signing of a long-delayed Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU as a signal that Serbia was on the road to EU membership.
“I am totally sure that people of Serbia are going to vote for their European future, and also to contribute in terms of our capability to defend our legitimate interest in Kosovo,” Tadic told journalists after casting his ballot in Belgrade.
The ultra-nationalist Radical Party has argued that signing the EU agreement was tantamount to recognising Kosovo independence, and has promised closer ties to Moscow.
“We'll make Serbia a country of proud people again, defend our borders and cooperate with everyone, openly with friends but cautiously with those who show they are not our friends,” deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic said after voting, the BBC said.
In a roundup, Bulgaria’s Focus news agency said that several incidents have been registered during the May 11 elections.
A member of the electoral committee from the Liberal Democratic Party and an elderly citizen, who came to cast a vote, brawled in the polling station in Pozega in the municipality of Novi Pazar.
An incident was reported in Nis as well – Branislav Jovanovic, chairman of G17 Plus structure in the town, was attacked. Later his wife was also attacked. There were incidents in Belgrade and Novi Sad too, Focus said.
Serbian news agency B92 said that by the time polls closed, only minor incidents had been reported. Voting at one polling station in Kosovo was temporarily suspended following an altercation between members of the electoral committee and voters.
