Serbia had an important decision to make on January 21. A choice between the past and the future. These words Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said in Serbia a day before the elections. Stanishev spoke at the final election rally of Boris Tadics Democratic Party, making clear who had his support.
Giving Bulgaria's official reaction to the election results at a news briefing on January 24, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev said that the democratic forces were dominant in Serbian society and would be seriously represented in the new Serbian parliament.
At the same time, the main challenge now was to consolidate to form a stable parliamentary majority, he said.
The key question for Serbia is to quickly form a new government that can be a partner to the international community and to guarantee the achievement of democratisation and the Euro-integration processes in the country, Tsanchev said.
Bulgaria supported Serbias European future and would continue to support Serbias path towards the European Union. Bulgaria would continue working actively with Serbia and looked forward to a good relationship with the new Serbian government, Tsanchev said.
Most of the Bulgarian media coverage was based on material taken from the Serbian media.
On January 23, news website Mediapool reprinted an article from a Serbian newspaper on the complex political situation after the elections.
Current Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica is not much loved by the West for his failure to deliver two war criminals, Radovan Karadzic and General Radko Mladic, Mediapool said. The main obstacle towards a new democratic government was Kostunica's desire to remain in power. Mediapool foresaw a difficult and uncertain future of negotiations between the right-wing parties.
On the sensitive issue of Kosovo, the website said: No Serbian politician would want to take power and months after that, to hand over Kosovo. Mediapool said that fresh elections in the summer were likely.
Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said that the Serbian elections had shown that the heritage of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic was still alive.
Despite all attempts at democratisation of the country, the memory of Milosevic is still present, Dnevnik said in an article on January 23.
The fact that the leader of Serbian radicals Voislav Seselj is currently in court does not seem to have changed much for Serbian patriots who bet on populist and nationalist messages during the campaign, the article said.
The fact that the radicals would not be able to form their own government was not very reassuring, Dnevnik said.
Serbia was now entering one of the most important periods of its post-Yugoslavian age and the next months would show whether the country would go deep into the swamp, inherited from Milosevic.
The key events ahead of Serbia in coming months, Dnevnik said, were the formation of the new government and the status of Kosovo.
The right-wing parties who managed to enter Parliament have the chance to form a stable government and continue the reforms in Serbia and its way towards Europe, the article said. For this to happen, Serbian right-wing politicians had to put aside the disagreements they have between them and hear out Marti Ahtisaari's plan for Kosovo. Unfortunately, Dnevnik concluded, this was very unlikely, given relations between various right-wing parties.
Disagreements would continue, along with the game of cat and mouse between Serbia and the international community about the fate of Kosovo.
This will be unfortunate for both Serbia and the region, Dnevnik says.
In a separate article, Dnevnik quoted Serbia's Politika newspaper. Long negotiations and opposition cabinet and new elections in the summer was the main message. Most likely the new government will be formed among the Democratic Party, led by Tadic, Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia and G17. Again Dnevnik wrote about Kostunica's appetite for a new term in office, which could endanger negotiations.
The paper also cited the surprisingly high election turnout of 60 per cent of Serbians eligible to vote. For the first time since 2000 almost a third of Serbians went to vote.
Serbia faces unstable government, Bulgarian-language newspaper Sega daily reported on January 23 as well.
The most urgent tasks facing a future government, according to Sega, were the future of Kosovo and sending Karadjic and Mladic to The Hague.
Pari daily found no drama in the outcome of Serbian elections. Despite the decisive nature of the elections the outcome was not that much of a surprise, the paper said on January 24. The results, according to Pari, were expected and even programmed. Everyone from the former Yugoslavian state got what he wanted. That is why everyone declared themselves winners, the newspaper said.
The radicals won first place but refused to form a cabinet. A cabinet will be formed by the democratic parties, which will ensure the democratisation of the country. G17 got the much desired role of balancer. Although Milosevic's socialists will remain in opposition, this was not a bad achievement for a party which still worships Milosevic.
In contrast to Mediapool and Dnevnik, Pari left some room for optimism.
The most important thing about the elections was that they once and for all legitimised Serbia as an independent state after Montenegro left the union last year. The new government will be formed according to the newly adopted constitution. After this, there can be no excuses for any delay of reform or the issue of Kosovo. These issues are knocking on the door and the future will show if there is someone in Belgrade with courage to answer, Pari said.
