Serbia’s pro-Western incumbent President Boris Tadic has claimed a second term in office when he defeated nationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic on Sunday’s tight second-round election runoff. Though Serbia’s Presidential post is largely ceremonial, it carries tremendous weight as the President is the commander-in-chief of the Serbian armed forces. The post has gained tremendous importance since the days of the late Slobodan Milosevic.
Sunday’s most crucial polls since the overthrow of Yugoslav strongman Milosevic in 2000, Serbians were very much undecided about their future making the contest such a close one in years. While President Tadic favours Serbia’s closeness to the European Union, Mr.Nikolic is a tough ultra-nationalist who is ready to sacrifice Belgrade’s economic progress and integration into the EU in favour of hanging onto the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo. Now the question is what next for Serbia with the re-election of Boris Tadic as the President? Reports from Belgrade suggest that the Presidential run-off had been a very close affair with Tadic winning 51.1% of the votes compared to Tomislav Nikolic’s 47.2%. The two leaders’ post-election speeches revealed their basic and bitter differences. While lauding his opponent for a remarkable performance, President Tadic declared with an aura reminiscent of a post-war reformist,
Serbia has shown its great democratic potential.
Mr.Nikolic, on his part, congratulated his rival on a fine victory after admitting defeat but his speech targeted the EU and indirectly warned the country’s government not to sell Serbia’s pride(he meant Kosovo),
My message to the EU is to stop blackmailing Serbia and stop putting impossible conditions, that we are ready to be within the EU, but there are certain conditions that we cannot fulfill.
Boris Tadic’s victory is good news for the European Union both on the issue of Kosovo and Serbia’s economic reforms based on Western style. While President Tadic has ruled out accepting Kosovo’s independence from Serbia, he seems less aggressive in his approach compared to Tomislav Nikolic’s ultra-nationalistic views. Using Serb forces in the event of a Kosovan independence has been firmly ruled out by President Tadic which was a near threat for the stability of the Balkan region had Nikolic won the elections. Now both the EU and Serbia could look into a peaceful compromising deal that would satisfy all the parties involved and carry forward Belgrade’s efforts towards the development of a proper European democracy.
According to BBC, the return to power of the pro-Western Democratic Party has already started to produce some positive reactions among the Kosovo Albanians with the ethnic leaders of the souther Serbian province hinting that the independence call may be delayed, which is a remarkable diversion from their earlier positions in announcing Kosovo’s independence from Serbia within a matter of days of the Serbian elections. Maybe there is a compromise deal round the corner between Serbia, Kosovo and the EU.
