Serbia's Choice

After the election on Sunday, Jan 20, the nationalists seemed to have the edge going into next month's presidential election. Nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic took 39.6 percent of the vote ahead of the 35.5 percent by pro-Western President Boris Tadic in the nine-candidate runoff.

The Feb. 3 presidential run-off is seen as a referendum on the Balkan country's future. The importance of the elections for the future direction of the country accounts for Sunday's 61 percent turnout, the highest since 2000.

Serbia at a crossroads

Nikolic, of the Radical Party, has balked at EU membership and instead wants Serbia to act as a middle player between the EU and Russia. Nikolic has denied he's an isolationist.

"Serbia voted today for both Europe and Russia," he told state broadcaster RTS. "The road to Russia is at this moment more open, and I'll open the road to the European Union."

Tadic is generally seen as the pro-Europe candidate. He said the elections will be important "to show that Serbia is absolutely not giving up its European course, the path it started on in 2000."

The European Union said on Monday that it was confident Serbia would deepen ties with the bloc.

"We are confident that Serbia will continue to pursue its European course and we are convinced that progress towards the EU can be accelerated," the office of EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in a statement.

Many Serbs want EU membership, but resent the EU's support for the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo. Both candidates are united in their opposition of Kosovo independence.

In Kosovo, the majority ethnic Albania population has boycotted Serbian elections since the early 1990s. There are about 100,000 Serbs in Kosovo, which has a population of approximately 1.9 million.

"The elections in Serbia have no impact on Kosovo," said Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. "We have our path."

Candidates need to broaden support

The candidates will need third party votes to win the presidential election. Key could be Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, political analyst Milan Nikolic told Reuters news agency. Kostunica, a nationalist, had supported third-place candidate Velimir Ilic, a nationalist from the New Serbia party.

Kostunica is Tadic's partner in the coalition government, but wants the country to take a hard line against the EU over Kosovo and also favors closer ties to Russia.

"Kostunica is again in a position to decide the fate of the country," Nikolic said.