Headlines: Serbs vote for Europe, but tough coalition talks ahead

May 12, 2008, 7:26 GMT

Belgrade - Serbian President Boris Tadic's pro-European coalition 'triumphed' and 'won the race' against the anti-Western bloc in Sunday's snap polls, but it still depends on uncertain outside help for a ruling majority, Belgrade newspapers said Monday.

'Sound victory of European Serbia,' 'Tadic's triumph,' 'Democrats win the race' and 'Historic win by European Serbia' were some of Monday's front-page headlines.

The group led by Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) won 39 per cent of the votes, soundly defeating the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) with 29 per cent, as well as pre-election forecasts predicting a neck-and-neck race.

The two main groups stood for the two paths on offer in the election: Tadic's leading Serbia to European Union membership and the Radicals' steering it away from the West.

'Serbian citizens opted for the EU, economic growth and social certainty,' Belgrade's former foreign minister Goran Svilanovic told the daily Danas.

Tadic's camp received a huge boost from the EU over the past two weeks with a pre-membership deal and a roadmap to a more relaxed visa regime.

A 700-million-euro (1.1-billion-dollar) investment plan by Italy's Fiat, announced last week for Serbia's huge but moribund Zastava car factory, was another major sweetener.

The SRS, along with outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose DSS sagged to 11.5 per cent, had vowed to overturn the treaty with the EU in protest at Western support for Kosovo's split from Serbia, even if it jeopardized billions of dollars in investments.

'The success of the pro-European bloc shows that the desire for a better life overcame the outrage over the loss of territory (Kosovo),' the daily Politika said.

But though the DS won the most votes in what Svilanovic said was 'a clear signal' that Serbs want to remain on the Western course, Tadic is still a long way from a majority and faces rough coalition talks.

The DS ballot tally translates to 103 of the 250 seats seats in the assembly, which leaves the door open to several combinations, including majority coalitions and a minority government, but also a tight ruling alliance of the anti-Western bloc, newspapers said.

The keys this time are in the hands of the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party, the only with a potential to ally both with the DS and the SRS-led camp.

The SPS emerged as the new kingmaker on the Serbian political scene, replacing Kostunica's DSS in that role after Kostunica headed the past two cabinets despite never winning the most votes.