Serbia's presidential run-off kicked off Sunday, which is seen
by analysts as a referendum on the Balkan country's future.
Starting from 7:00 A.M. local time (0600 GMT) until 8:00 P.M.
(1900 GMT), some 6.72 million eligible voters began casting their
ballots to choose between pro-Western incumbent President Boris
Tadic and his pro-Russian rival Tomislav Nikolic.
This is the first election to be held under Serbia's new
constitution that went into effect after Montenegro declared
independence from a union with Serbia in 2006.
The vote is a repetition of the scene in 2004 when Tadic of the
pro-Western Democratic Party and Nikolic of the ultranationalist
Serbian Radical Party competed in a presidential run-off.
However, the election this time will be a more fierce contest
and is predicted to be one of the tightest ever in Serbia as the
Balkan country is to face the imminent breakaway of its southern
province of Kosovo.
Although latest polls gave Tadic a slight lead, pollsters
admitted the race was too close to call.
The winner of the election could determine whether Serbia will
continue on its path of pro-Western reform and closer ties with the
European Union, or downgrade its ties with the pro-Kosovo West and
brace for a kind of alliance with its traditional ally Russia.
The outcome will also decide how Serbia will react to the
expected declaration of independence by Kosovo, which has been run
by the UN mission and is dominated by pro-independence ethnic
Albanians.
Both Tadic and Nikolic oppose independence for Kosovo, but Tadic
has ruled out the use of force and would likely seek to preserve
close ties with the European Union and the United States even if
they recognize Kosovo's independence.
Nikolic has said Serbia must abandon its bid to become an EU
member if the bloc upholds Kosovo's independence. He has called for
closer ties with Russia, which supports Serbia in the Kosovo
problem.
"I have just one small request for the EU: do not touch Kosovo
and Metohija. Because we are a proud nation and we do not need the
carrot and stick," Nikolic said during the campaign. "There is no
EU for us if they take away our Kosovo."
Nikolic served as a deputy prime minister of the now-defunct
Yugoslavia during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo, when NATO bombed
Serbia for 78 days to stop its crackdown against the province's
separatists.
Kosovo's Albanian leaders said they would declare independence
days after the Serbian run-off, no matter who wins, and they expect
the United States and most EU countries to follow up with quick
recognition.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)
