Home

EA Latest Articles

SERBIA: A Narrow Vote for Europe

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Feb 4 (IPS) - Serbian voters have decided, in the tightest run-off so far, that their president for the next five years remains incumbent Boris Tadic, seen as the leader who can take the biggest nation in the Balkans closer to the EU.

The Central Electoral Commission (RIK) says Tadic won 50.57 percent of the vote, while ultranationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic obtained 47.71 percent.

With a turnout of 67.6 percent of 6.7 million eligible voters in the Sunday election, the RIK put the difference between winner and loser at a mere 127,702 votes.

"I congratulate all the citizens of Serbia on our being a European democracy," Tadic said after the results were announced. "We have shown to many European Union (EU) member countries the democratic potential of this nation."

The EU, which had hoped Tadic would win, congratulated him on his victory.

"The outcome of the Serbian presidential elections should also be understood as a reflection of the wishes and resolve of democratic forces to further Serbia on its path towards EU membership," the Slovenian presidency of the EU said in a statement.

But the narrow victory for Tadic is just one step in resolving the many serious issues that lie ahead for Serbia both on the international scene and at home.

"Serbia has proven to be deeply divided over crucial issues," professor of political science Ivo Viskovic told IPS. "The election results are a warning to the political elite. The key politicians will have to show that they are able to be real statesmen now."

The run-off for Serbian presidency was held against the background of the looming independence of Serbia's ethnic Albanian populated province Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations (UN) administration since 1999. The UN is to be replaced soon by an EU mission.

There is no politician of any standing in Serbia who accepts the independence of Kosovo, but Tadic is open to negotiations over the EU mission, and has pledged to work with the largely pro-independence Brussels and Washington to solve the problem.

Serbia is due to sign a deal with the EU Feb. 7 on trade relations and relaxed visa requirements. The political deal is a prelude to a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), a step towards EU membership that Serbia has wanted for years now. But there is no indication that this could counter strongly emotional resistance to independence for Kosovo.

Tadic is also prepared to support EU demands for handing over the remaining war crimes suspects from the bloody conflicts in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The most important ones are former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic, both held responsible for the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in Bosnia in 1995.

For Nikolic and his supporters, those men remain Serb heroes. The opposition candidate and his Radicals were partners of former leader Slobodan Milosevic.

But the two candidates were divided along other lines as well. Nikolic has insisted on closer ties with Russia, the "traditional ally" that has backed Serbia in the UN Security Council in its refusal to accept independence for Kosovo. In his campaign, he called for Serbia's airspace to be opened for Russian fighter jets "if needed for any actions." He also said Serbia should become "a governorate of Russia."

"At the emotional level, people believe in Russia and appreciate its stand towards Kosovo," analyst Cedomir Cupic told IPS. "However, they realise not much development can come from that side."

In January, Belgrade sold control of the highly valued Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) to Russian Gazprom for 600 million dollars, a fraction of what many thought the real price should be. The sale caused public uproar. European companies have invested billions of dollars in Serbia since the introduction of the market economy in 2000. Russian investment has ranged between 300 to 400 million dollars over the same period.

"Serbia's exports to EU countries were 16.5 times higher in 2006 than the exports to Russia, the U.S. and China combined," analyst Mladjan Kovacevic wrote in the widely circulated daily Blic.

The result of the Sunday vote, meanwhile, is expected to have a strong influence on the shaky coalition government made up of Tadic's Democrats, the party of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, and two smaller partners.

Kostunica refused to back Tadic because the latter did not take a tougher line against EU support for the independence of Kosovo. In the heated atmosphere ahead of the run-off, Kostunica told reporters that he did not know who to vote for, if he turned up to vote at all.

"The biggest loser in these elections is Kostunica," analyst Jovo Bakic told local B92 TV. "It is impossible for a prime minister to have no stand about his country's future. The next thing that stands before Tadic is to re-consider the composition of the government." (END/2008)