Nationalist Nikolic wins first-round presidential vote

Jan 20, 2008, 22:08 GMT

Picture dated 16 January 2008 shows Presidential candidate and acting leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Tomislav Nikolic waving to his supporters during a pre-election rally in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, Serbia. Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic won first place in Sunday‘s presidential election and would lead pro-European incumbent Boris Tadic into a runoff vote in two weeks, early unofficial results indicated. EPA/GEORGI LICOVSKI

Belgrade - Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic would lead the pro-European incumbent Boris Tadic into the presidential election run-off on February 3 after winning the most votes in the first-round vote Sunday.

According to early, unofficial figures, Nikolic won 39.4 per cent of ballots cast amid record turnout in a Serbian presidential election of more than 60 per cent, the private Centre for Free and Democratic Elections (Cesid) said.

The same, normally reliable source, said that Tadic collected 35.4 per cent of the vote. None of the remaining seven candidates broke 8 per cent, according to Cesid.

In absolute figures, Nikolic's lead boils down to some 150,000 votes in an electorate of 6.7 million people. The second round may be close or even closer, said Cesid chief analyst Zoran Lucic.

The looming independence of Serbia's province Kosovo has dominated recent campaigning and may play an even larger role in the two weeks until the runoff.

US and most EU states have backed the majority Kosovo Albanians' bid for independence, and the EU is to decide on sending a law- enforcement mission to help the fledgling state's first sovereign steps.

Nikolic says he wants to freeze relations with any country supporting an independent Kosovo, while Tadic, somewhat awkwardly, says that Kosovo must not be tied to Serbia's progress toward EU membership.

The position of the majority in Serbia regarding its ties with the EU and the West would reflect on the final outcome of the election for the office, which carries little real authority.

Pollsters said even before Sunday's election that the key is in the hands of conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica - who is in an uneasy coalition with Tadic's Democratic Party but is politically closer to Nikolic's Serbian Radical Party.

Kostunica is estimated to have command over some 300,000 votes, enough to tip the scales come February 3. He has so far refused to endorse either Nikolic or Tadic and may even remain outwardly undecided.

Tadic already defeated Nikolic in the run for the five-year term in 2004, also after trailing in the first round. The presidential election was called a year early because Serbia adopted a new constitution in 2006.

This time, Tadic may have a harder time mobilizing enough support for a turnaround, observers said, hours after Sunday's vote ended.