Serbs voted Sunday in elections that will likely decide whether the nation takes another step toward mainstream Europe or reverts to a hard-line stance reminiscent of the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic. The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party clung to a slim lead heading into the parliamentary vote, closely trailed by President Boris Tadic's pro-Western coalition. Officials said early turnout was strong.Potential kingmakers included nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's conservative bloc and Mr. Milosevic's Socialists. One -- or both -- were expected to help form a new government with an anti-Western and pro-Russia stance. "People here can't shake the feeling that Europe isn't fair and just toward Serbia," Braca Grubacic, a prominent political analyst, said Saturday. "Serbia is not like it used to be, but the problems and the political agenda are the same as they were during the Milosevic era."
Voters were also casting ballots in Kosovo, where Serb leaders organized parallel local elections in defiance of international authorities. The United Nations branded the local elections illegal, but did not stop people from voting, and NATO peacekeepers stepped up patrols as a precautionary measure. "We hope there will be no incidents," said Momir Kasalovic, an official in the ethnically divided northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica.
Mr. Kostunica and Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic capitalized on an acute sense of betrayal after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February and gained formal recognition from the U.S., Canada, Japan and key European powers. "I want Kosovo to remain in Serbia -- that's why I voted for Serbian patriots," said Zoran Jovanovic, a 66-year-old retiree. "The European Union and the West want to take Kosovo away from Serbia. That's why there is no place for us in that bloc. Russia is our true friend." The nationalists also have exploited disenchantment with 30% unemployment, rising prices and corruption. "For the people of Serbia, today is the day they will feel a change for the better ... when it will be worth living in Serbia," Mr. Nikolic said after voting Sunday. He said he expected to quickly make an alliance with Mr. Kostunica "which will finally lead to the formation of a good government."
Mr. Tadic, who opposes Kosovo's independence but wants to steer Serbia toward the EU, has received death threats. He has also been publicly denounced as a traitor for signing a pre-entry aid-and-trade pact with the EU -- a deal that Messrs. Kostunica and Nikolic contend amounts to blood money in exchange for giving up Kosovo. Mr. Nikolic, meanwhile, is basking in the belief that his day has come. Over the past five years, the Radicals have steadily gained power and influence in Serbia. In the three most recent elections, they won a majority in the 250-seat parliament but were unable to govern without the support of Mr. Kostunica's bloc. Both Messrs. Kostunica and Nikolic have said Serbia should shelve its proclaimed goal of joining the EU and concentrate instead on establishing close political and economic ties with Russia.
Some Serbs are understandably skittish about the possibility that their country could revert to nationalist or even ultranationalist rule and slide deeper into instability and isolation. "I voted for Europe and against the road that leads us back to the misery of the 1990s," Milica Ostojic, a 22-year-old university student, said Sunday after casting her ballot at a packed polling station in New Belgrade. However, Charles Ingrao, a Balkans expert at Purdue University, insists the world shouldn't fear a reprise of Milosevic-style bloodshed. "The days of Milosevic are gone," he said. "Serbia can no longer project power beyond its own borders like it did in the 1990s. I don't know what we're afraid of. Times have changed."