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Pro-Europe party set to win general elections

Article published on the 2008-05-12 Latest update 2008-05-12 09:31 TU

Pro-Europe voters in Belgrade claim victory. ( Photo : AFP )

Pro-Europe voters in Belgrade claim victory.
( Photo : AFP )

Early results from Serbia's snap general election at the weekend give the pro-Europe camp its' best showing since the fall of Slobadan Milosevic in 2000, at around 39 per cent and turnout at about 61 per cent. The party of President Boris Tadic, the Democratic Party (DS) and partners in the 'For a European Serbia' alliance will have to form a government coalition.

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Pro-European forces in Serbia have begun talks to form a coalition, after claiming victory in a snap general election over their nationalist rivals. The For a European Serbia alliance spearheaded by the Democratic Party looked set to garner some 39 percent of the vote, but that is not a majority.

President Boris Tadic and his pro-European alliance will probably need support from at least one nationalist party to govern. The latest estimates of the non-governmental Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) gave the Democrat-led coalition 38.7 percent versus 29.1 percent for the Radicals. 

The electoral commission has to confirm results by Thursday. Under the constitution, the government has to be formed within 30 days of that confirmation and a parliament assembled by September, or Serbia will have to go to the polls again.

The Democrats' expected coalition partners include the Socialist Party of Serbia, founded by late nationalist leader Slobadan Milosevic, or the Liberal Democratic Party. However, the ultra-nationalist Radical Party warned Tadic that it might still be able to form a government. Serbia has seen a series of governments struggle for unity over EU membership since Milosevic's ouster in a popular uprising eight years ago.

On the streets of Belgrade, pro-Europe supporters expressed their joy in cars decked out in Serbian, Democrat and EU flags honked their horns as they drove around the city centre. CeSID said 61 percent of the 6.7 million electorate turned out for the vote.