Serbian coalition tie loose ends by appointing the Belgrade mayor

Aug 19, 2008, 7:34 GMT

Belgrade - President Boris Tadic's Democrats and their Socialist partners in Serbia's ruling coalition were due Tuesday to tie up loose ends still dangling three months after elections by appointing the Belgrade mayor.

Former foes, the Democratic Party (DS) and the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in June buried their hatchets to form a pro-European Serbian government, but the agreement remained elusive on the local level in Belgrade.

Instead, days after May 11 parliamentary and local polls in Serbia, The Socialists announced a coalition to rule Belgrade with the nationalist bloc, comprising the Serbian Radical Party and former prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia.

The early deal was eventually overruled by the SPS leadership, outraging the nationalists, who may attempt obstructing the city hall by filibustering - as they did in the Serbian assembly, eventually forcing a month-long recess of the legislature.

The break prevented Serbia from debating a pre-membership agreement with the European Union and a crucial energy deal with Russia.

For the Belgrade local government, the DS-SPS coalition won the support of the small Liberal Democratic Party to secure the majority, just two days ahead of a deadline which would have forced repeat elections for the city hall.

The Liberals, who are not a part of the national government coalition, would also remain an outside partner in municipal authorities, and would in return take control over several big-budget sectors in the Belgrade city government.

A high-ranking DS official, Dragan Djilas, was the only candidate for the mayor in the debate scheduled to start late Tuesday morning.