Turnout slowed sharply in Serbian snap
parliamentary elections Sunday after a strong start, as apathy appeared to take
over after the first hours of a vote seen as key for the troubled country's
course.
Some 6.75 million Serbs were eligible to choose from 22 tickets, but the real
choices were the anti-European bloc led by the ultra- nationalist Serbian
Radical Party (SRS) and President Boris Tadic's pro-EU Democratic Party (DS).
After a record rush of voters in the first three hours, the turnout slowed to a
trickle by mid-afternoon and a weak showing of just 28.5 per cent by 3 pm, with
five hours remaining in the election, the central election commission said.
Pre-election polls gave the Radicals a slight lead, suggesting that Serbia was headed for a turn away from the West. It was believed that a weak turnout would
favour the SRS with its disciplined, steady following.
Outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is expected to remain the next
government's kingmaker despite his Democratic Party's (DSS) dwindling
popularity, with the late Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)
in tow.
Analysts tipped a coalition of Radicals, DSS and Socialists as the most likely
outcome.
Less than three months after Kosovo's secession inflamed political infighting
in Serbia and forced the early election, the vote was being closely watched by
European Union officials and the Balkan nation's neighbours.
"I think this time it's really make-or-break," said Belgrade voter
Gordana, 35, who gave only her first name. "All our elections have been
'crucial,' but this time I'm afraid the world is really willing to lock the
door and throw away the key."
But more Serbs may see the recognition of Kosovo as a new state by the West as
rubbing the salt in the still-open wound of a NATO bombing campaign in 1999,
which ended the conflict over Kosovo but was also a prelude to its secession.
In addition to uneasy relations with the West, many Serbs have sunk into
apathy, disillusioned over the meager progress of their country in the eight
years since the end of Slobodan Milosevic's regime.
Today they still are among the poorest Europeans, landlocked between countries
requiring hard-to-obtain visas for travel and feeling betrayed because of it
all.
Kostunica, meanwhile, has become openly hostile to the West, including the
European Union, over its support of Kosovo's independence. The
Albanian-dominated province declared itself free from Serbia in February.
Quick recognition by leading Western countries and EU aid to Kosovo prompted
Kostunica to freeze Serbia's progress toward EU membership, which brought down
his coalition with Tadic after only 10 months.
Both Kostunica and SRS leader Tomislav Nikolic say they will not allow Serbia to negotiate membership with Brussels until Western nations retract their recognition of
Kosovo - meaning never.
Nikolic insists that Serbia would avoid isolation because it could turn its
economy toward partners like Russia, China and India. He has sought to reassure
foreign investors that they would still be welcome.
Tadic and his allies warned voters that Serbia risked losing EU development aid
and billions of dollars in foreign investment, leading to economic decline and
isolation.
Serbia's hopes for moving toward Europe hinge on the ratification of a
pre-membership Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) by the next
parliament - with Kostunica and Nikolic vowing to annul it.
After casting his ballot in Belgrade, Nikolic continued to woo Kostunica to
quickly start negotiating with him and to "finally form a good government
with the SRS."
Kostunica remained consistent in refusing to commit until after the election,
but he said he believed Serbia should get a new government "quickly."
Tadic's DS is unlikely to win enough votes to form a majority with the
pro-European Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), expected to be the fifth and final
party clearing the 5-per-cent hurdle of votes cast to qualify for parliament.
Representatives of Serbia's lame-duck government signed the SAA on April 29
with Tadic present, prompting outraged charges by the nationalist camp that he
was selling out the homeland and in effect recognizing Kosovo's independence.
In another EU attempt to bolster Serbia's pro-Europeans, 17 European countries
agreed five days before the election to end visa fees for most Serbs - a first
step toward eventual visa-free entry - but that may have been too little, too
late.
First estimates of the outcome are expected from agencies processing a sample
of polling stations a few hours after the voting ends at 8 pm (1800 GMT), dpa reported.