The coalitions led by Serbia's Democratic Party (DS) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) were close to reaching an agreement on forming a cabinet, Serbian daily Blic said on May 15, as quoted by Serbian broadcaster B92.

According to Blic, the DS, which is headed by Serbian president Boris Tadic, has offered Socialist leader Ivica Dacic the position of deputy prime minister. Dacic, for his part, has requested the rehabilitation of infamous former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's family in return for his cooperation and has asked that the request sent to Russia to extradite Milosevic's wife and son be dropped. The DS, in return, have asked for the Socialists to fully cooperate with the Hague war crimes tribunal, Blic said.

B92, however, quoted Tadic as saying his coalition was only starting negotiations with the Socialists, but currently there were no talks of ministerial posts.

Velimir Ilic, head of New Serbia (NS) – the coalition partner of outgoing Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) - also said his expectations were that the DSS-NS would be able to reach an agreement on forming a government with the Socialists, B92 reported.

The final talks are expected on May 15. "We won't allow marathon negotiations; we do not want to waste time. We want things to be clear right away, to know where we stand - do we have a government with the Radicals and the Socialists or not,” Ilic said, as quoted by B92.

General and local elections were held in Serbia on May 11. The pro-Western For a European Serbia coalition, led by the DS, won 102 seats in parliament, while the nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the DSS-NS coalition came second and third with 78 and 30 seats, respectively.

The SPS got 20 seats, which secured it the position of the kingmaker of the future government, since even if the DS enters into a coalition with smaller partners and the nationalists join forces, both sides would still lack enough seats for majority in the 250-seat Serbian Skupstina.