Serbian parliament dissolved, elections on May 11

Mar 13, 2008, 9:16 GMT

Belgrade - Serbian President Boris Tadic formally dissolved the country's parliament Thursday and scheduled early elections for May 11.

'Elections are a democratic means for citizens to say which way Serbia should develop in the coming years,' Tadic's cabinet said in a statement.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said last week that his coalition has shattered over which path Serbia should take after the European Union supported the secession of Serbia's province Kosovo.

Kostunica wanted Belgrade to cement the freeze of Serbia's progress toward EU membership in protest at Brussels' Kosovo policy, but was outvoted in his own cabinet by the pro-European ministers grouped around Tadic.

Held together with municipal polls, as well as the elections for authorities in Serbia's northern province Vojvodina, the May vote is seen as a referendum on Serbia's European perspective.

Kostunica and the powerful nationalist opposition want Serbia to nurture closer ties with Russia and countries such as China and India, while the pro-Europeans, while also rejecting Kosovo's independence, say that Serbia must remain on course to EU membership.

A caretaker government with a limited capacity would run Serbia until replaced by an elected government.

However, presuming that the Serbian political scene remains sharply and fairly equally polarized, that may take several months beyond the elections date.