Serb Radicals Lead in Latest Poll
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24 April 2008 Belgrade _ An opinion poll published on Thursday shows Serbian ultranationalists leading in the run-up to the May 11 general election.
The survey by the Belgrade-based Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, CESID, found that the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, would have had the support of almost 1.5 million out of 6.7 million voters if the election had been held last week.
Their opponents, the pro-Western Democratic Party, DS, of President Boris Tadic, would have come second with some 1.37 million votes.
Tadic narrowly won a second term as President in early February with 2.3 million votes compared to SRS leader Tomislav Nikolic who got about 2.1 million votes.
The nationalist block headed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, together with its junior coalition partner, Nova Serbia, could have counted on just over half a million votes if the election had been held last week.
The survey was conducted between April 14 and April 20 and covered 2,732 pollees from Serbia outside Kosovo.
The poll suggests that between 4.3 million and 6.7 million voters will turn out on May 11.
CESID said the poll results reflect the thinking of some 5.5 million voters.
Serbia's coalition government collapsed in March over differences between nationalists and pro-Europeans on the country’s further relations with the European Union following Kosovo's declaration of independence and the decision by a majority of EU member states to recognise the regime in Pristina.
The only party which advocates accepting the reality of an independent Kosovo, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, LDP, of Cedomir Jovanovic, would have gained the support of 330,000 voters if the election had been held last week, just enough to cross the five-per cent threshold for the Serbian parliament.
Slightly less support, around 290,000 votes, would have been garnered by the late Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialists.
CESID points to the fact that 12 to 13 per cent of eligible voters, or 800,000 people, regularly do not vote, a figure that reflects the situation in neighbouring countries and other democracies.