Serbian radicals with paliamentary vote, Poll shows
Bloomberg.com
Aleksandra Nenadovic
January 21, 2007
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Serbia's Radical Party, which wants to keep Kosovo a part of the country, led all other groups in the first elections since the Balkan state split with Montenegro, an exit poll showed.
The Radicals had 28.5 percent of the vote, according to the estimate from the Belgrade-based Center for Free Elections and Democracy, or CESID. The Democratic Party, which backs EU and NATO membership, was second with 22.9 percent, the CESID said.
The Democrats may be able to assemble a cabinet if they agree to a coalition with other parties that also gained enough support to enter the 250-seat parliament. President Boris Tadic, who heads the Democratic Party, is charged with selecting who will have the first attempt at forming a government.
``We'll have really hard-fought negotiations to form a coalition government,'' said Transparency International of Serbia President Vladimir Goati at a press conference after the poll results were released.
Initial results in the nation of 6.6 million are due by the end of the night or early tomorrow. As many as six forces from the 17 parties and groupings vying in the election made it across the needed threshold of 5 percent, the poll showed. The CESID said turnout as of 7 p.m. was 56.7 percent.
The Democratic Party of Serbia, led by current Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, was third with 18 percent, the poll showed. The G17 Party had 6.8 percent, while the Socialist Party of former President Slobodan Milosevic had 6.1 percent. A coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party had 5 percent, the poll showed.
International Isolation
Serbia is seeking to bring to an end its international isolation triggered by civil war in the former Yugoslavia and the mistreatment of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province that provoked the bombing of roads, bridges and buildings by NATO in 1999. The Democrats, who are led by President Boris Tadic, have said they will push ahead with reconstruction.
After the poll was released, Radical Party members celebrated at their headquarters in the capital Belgrade while leaders from the other parties said they would wait for real returns before commenting.
``I voted for the Radicals,'' said Ilija Joksic, a 60-year- old pensioner in Belgrade. ``They are a government for Serbs. Minorities should be minorities. We need a greater, richer and prosperous Serbia, together with its mother Russia.''
Official Results
Final official results must be released by Jan. 25. A new parliament must be formed and hold its first session by Feb. 25. A government must be formed within 90 days after the first parliamentary session or new elections will follow within 60 days.
CESID Director Marko Blagojevic said at a press conference today that few irregularities at poling stations had been reported. The election is being monitored by 478 observers, including officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the lower house of Russia's parliament.
Campaigning was dominated by a forthcoming United Nations plan for the future status of Kosovo, a territory many Serbs view as the cradle of their civilization.
The ethnic Albanian majority in the province, which has been an international protectorate since the end of the 1999 war, wants full independence. Serbia is offering broad autonomy. UN mediator Maarti Ahtisaari is due to present his proposal on Jan. 26. Tadic said today the faster a new government is formed, the more legitimate a hand the country will have in negotiating about the province's future.
Minority Coalition
The new government will replace the minority coalition that governed Serbia & Montenegro led by the Democratic Party of Serbia, headed by the 62-year-old Kostunica. The country peacefully ended its federal partnership with neighboring Montenegro after the region located on the Adriatic Sea voted for independence in June.
Kostunica's government, which has ruled since 2004, slowed inflation to 6 percent at the end of 2006 from 20 percent when he took office. The economy grew 6.5 percent in 2006 and foreign investment reached $5.2 billion last year with sales of state- run assets to companies such as Norway's Telenor ASA. Still, unemployment was 31 percent at the end of 2006, according to the statistics office and the average monthly wage of $390 lags those in western European countries.
After former President Slobodan Milosevic was thrown out in 2000, the government sought to improve relations with Europe and join the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Still, the EU in May suspended negotiations over a so- called Stabilization and Association Agreement with Serbia because of the inability to capture Mladic and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn last week said progress in the search would lead to a ``rapid conclusion'' of the stalled talks.
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Bloomberg.com: Europe