Key to Serbia’s future lies in hands of Socialist Party

Tadic takes election with slim victory; main parties scrambling for allies

Pro-Western President Boris Tadic jubilates on his electoral victory in downtown Belgrade, on Sunday night.

By Dusan Stojanovic - The Associated Press

BELGRADE (AP) – Serbia’s Socialists, once led by Slobodan Milosevic, emerged yesterday as potential kingmakers in the struggle between nationalists and pro-Western reformers to form a government following elections that have left the nation bitterly divided.

The jockeying is likely to revitalize the late Serbian autocrat’s party, which foundered after he was toppled eight years ago in a popular revolt and was dealt a blow when he died in 2006 while on trial for genocide.

The Socialists now appear to hold the key to whether Serbia continues to pursue its ambition of joining the European Union or stakes an isolationist path in an alliance with Russia.

President Boris Tadic’s pro-EU reformist coalition defied expectations to capture a big lead after Sunday’s parliamentary elections, but did not garner enough support to govern alone. That has left both Tadic and his nationalist rivals scrambling to woo allies.

Both Tadic and the nationalists – outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and his new extreme-right Radical allies – yesterday opened negotiations with potential partners. “Certain political forces who wanted to return Serbia to the 90s are calculating now how to do it regardless of the people’s will,” Tadic said. “I am warning them not to do that.”

Any alliance that can muster a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-seat parliament can govern. Tadic’s coalition won 102, against 77 for Nikolic’s Radicals. If the ultranationalists join forces with Kostunica’s bloc – with 30 seats – and the Socialists – with 20 – their combined strength would be 127 seats.

The pro-Western coalition’s surprisingly strong showing came just three months after protesters outraged by Kosovo’s February 17 declaration of independence set fire to the US Embassy in Belgrade.

That anger had stoked expectations of an electoral backlash and a Radical victory. But analysts said yesterday that voters apparently were more concerned about living standards than bruised national pride.

“The success of the pro-European forces has shown that the wish for a better life has prevailed over the anger over the loss of territory,” the conservative Politika daily wrote.

Tadic’s Western allies wasted no time rallying to his cause.

The US Embassy in Belgrade said the Serbian electorate “has clearly demonstrated that its heart is in Europe.” The EU, which signed a pre-entry aid-and-trade agreement with Serbia before the elections, called his coalition’s success a “clear victory” by pro-European forces.

Both Tadic and Nikolic said they would open negotiations with the Socialists. Their leader, Ivica Dacic, said he would first talk to Kostunica and the Radicals – but left the door open for discussions with Tadic. “This is our great comeback on Serbia’s political scene,” Dacic said after the vote, reveling in his kingmaker role.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union urged Serbia yesterday to quickly form a new pro-Western government, which it said would help the country move quickly toward EU membership.

The EU noted that voters had given the pro-Western party of President Boris Tadic a wide victory margin to justify its running government.

The EU said it hoped for a government with a clear European agenda, saying the election result had given pro-EU forces a “clear victory.” “We look forward to working with a new government formed on this mandate,” said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the bloc was “ready to accelerate Serbia’s EU course,” though he did not mention the bloc’s remaining condition that Belgrade first hunt down two indicted war criminals and deliver them to the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

The new government’s priority should be “to complete full cooperation” with the UN court, said Slovenian lawmaker Jelko Kacin, who is in charge of the European Parliament’s evaluation reports on Serbia. “Only this will pave the way for Serbia to progress further toward the EU; toward candidate status and eventual EU membership.”