Socialists hold key to next Serbian government

15/05/2008

Parties on both sides of the political divide in Serbia are trying to win the Socialist Party's support for forming a new government following Sunday's inconclusive elections.

(Blic, Euronews - 15/05/08; AP, Reuters, AFP, DPA, RFE/RL, VOA, Beta, B92 - 14/05/08)

Serbian President Boris Tadic said he would defend the will of the people with all democratic and legitimate means. [Getty Images]

Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic said on Wednesday (May 14th) he is ready to deal with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) on a coalition, following Sunday's inconclusive parliamentary elections.

The For a European Serbia coalition, led by Tadic's Democratic Party (DS), won with 39% of the vote and will hold 102 of the 250 seats in parliament. But it fell short of a 126-seat majority.

The second- and third-place finishers -- the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and the coalition of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS) -- won 78 and 30 seats, respectively. The two quickly worked to form a government, but they, too, lack the necessary 126 seats.

The coalition around late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's SPS, which took fourth in Sunday's vote, winning 20 parliamentary seats, thus emerged as the kingmaker. Now both the pro-European and nationalist camps are courting it.

Tadic described the SPS as a "totally acceptable coalition partner" for his DS.

"Both parties share the ideals of the Socialist International, and both advocate social reform, the creation of a system of social justice and equal opportunities for all," the president said. "These are the principles on which the EU itself is based."

Any SPS-For a European Serbia coalition still requires the support of some of the other four groupings that cleared the 5% threshold. The staunchly pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party won 13 seats, while the ethnic alliances of Bosniaks, Hungarians and Albanians of the Presevo Valley will have a combined seven seats.

Citing the "huge" voter support for his pro-European coalition, Tadic criticised on Wednesday the SRS and DSS's attempt to form a government, pledging to "defend the will of the people with all democratic and legitimate means".

The Kostunica coalition's third-place, 12% showing demonstrated voter rejection of Kostunica, says Tadic, who added that the "policies of hatred and aggression lost" to the "policies of continued European integration".

According to Belgrade-based daily Blic, the DS offered the post of deputy prime minister to SPS leader Ivica Dacic and the capital investment portfolio to senior SPS official Milutin Mrkonjic.

Meanwhile, Dacic characterised a Wednesday meeting with Kostunica as productive.

"Tomorrow, we'll put forward some of our policies," he told reporters. "These pertain to pensions, work, health care, and education." He refused comment on the chances of his party joining a DS-led coalition government.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana indicated on Tuesday that the 27-nation bloc will back any pro-European government.

Meanwhile, according to Serbian media, at a press conference in Belgrade on Thursday, Radical Party head Aleksandar Vucic said that the SRS, the DSS and the SPS have “agreed [on] the principles” for the majority coalition in the Belgrade city council.