Serbia set for ‘referendum’ on Europe ties

With a hardline nationalist challenger enjoying a clear lead from the first round of presidential elections in Serbia, 20 January 2008, the country is set for a 3 February 2008 run-off increasingly portrayed as a 'referendum' on ties with the west.

Tomislav Nikolic, acting leader of the Serb Radical party, won 39.4 per cent of ballots cast, compared with 35.4 per cent for the strongly pro-European Union incumbent Boris Tadic, according to the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), a reliable independent monitoring organisation.

OSCE: Press Release, 21.1.08: First round of Serbian presidential election mostly in line with OSCE commitments, says observation mission http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/serbia/30430

Website: Centre for Free Election and Democracy (CeSID) http://www.cesid.org/eng/index.jsp

CeSID: Election Results: Presidential Elections, 2008 http://www.cesid.org/eng/rezultati/sr_jan_2008/index.jsp

Robert Schuman Foundation: European Elections Monitor: Serbia : Presidential Election of 20th January 2008 (D-7) http://www.robert-schuman.eu/oee.php?num=487

IFES: Election Guide: Serbia http://www.electionguide.org/countries/id/242/

Wikipedia: Serbian presidential election, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian_presidential_election,_2008

BBC News, 16.1.08: Serbs put jobs before Kosovo http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7189318.stm

Deutsche Welle, 21.1.08: Serbian Voters Lean Toward Nationalist in Presidential Election http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3080042,00.html

BBC News, 22,1,08: Media surprise at Serbia result http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7202149.stm

Council of the European Union: Press Release: S019/08: EU HR Javier SOLANA welcomes the orderly conduct of the Serbian Presidential elections http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/declarations/98246.pdf

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