Milosevic's Socialists emerge as kingmakers after Serbian vote
DUSAN STOJANOVIC
May 12, 2008 11:42 AM
BELGRADE, Serbia-Serbia's Socialists, once led by Slobodan Milosevic,
emerged Monday as potential kingmakers in the struggle between
nationalists and pro-Western reformers to form a government following
elections that have left the nation bitterly divided.
The jockeying is likely to revitalize the late Serbian autocrat's
party, which foundered after he was toppled eight years ago in a
popular revolt and was dealt a deep psychological blow when he died in
2006 while on trial for genocide.
The Socialists now appear to hold the key to whether Serbia continues
to pursue its ambition of joining the European Union or stakes an
isolationist path in an alliance with Russia.
President Boris Tadic's pro-EU reformist coalition defied expectations
to capture a big lead after Sunday's parliamentary elections, but did
not garner enough sup****t to govern alone. That has left both Tadic
and his nationalist rivals scrambling to woo allies.
Both Tadic and the nationalists, outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica and his new extreme-right Radical allies, on Monday opened
negotiations with potential partners.
"Certain political forces who wanted to return Serbia to the '90s are
calculating now how to do it regardless of the people's will," Tadic
said. "I am warning them not to do that."
Any alliance that can muster a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-
seat parliament can govern. Tadic's coalition won 102 seats, against
77 for Nikolic's Radicals. If the ultranationlists join forces with
Kostunica's bloc, with 30 seats, and the Socialists, with 20, their
combined strength would be 127 seats.
The pro-Western coalition's surprisingly strong showing came just
three months after protesters outraged by Kosovo's Feb. 17 declaration
of independence set fire to the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade.
That anger had stoked expectations of an electoral backlash and a
Radical victory. But analysts said Monday that voters apparently were
more concerned about living standards than bruised national pride.
"The success of the pro-European forces has shown that the wish for a
better life has prevailed over the anger over the loss of territory,"
the conservative Politika daily wrote.
Tadic's Western allies wasted no time rallying to his cause.
The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade said the Serbian electorate "has clearly
demonstrated that its heart is in Europe." The EU, which signed a pre-
entry aid-and-trade agreement with Serbia before the elections, called
his coalition's success a "clear victory" by pro-European forces.
Both Tadic and Nikolic said they would open negotiations with the
Socialists. Their leader, Ivica Dacic, said he would first talk to
Kostunica and the Radicals, but left the door open for discussions
with Tadic.
"This is our great comeback on Serbia's political scene," Dacic said
after the vote, reveling in his kingmaker role.
Analysts say joining the pro-Western bloc would be a shrewd strategic
move for the Socialists, even though they share little ideological
ground with the reformists.
The Socialists, former communists, ruled Serbia during the 1990s
Balkan wars in the 1990s, but played a minor role after Milosevic's
ouster.
"They would no longer be a party that is marked by its tarnished
past," said Dragan Bujosevic, a political analyst at the independent
NIN weekly.
"The party could redeem itself by saying it was crucial in pu****ng
Serbia forward toward the European Union," Bujosevic said. "That is
the space for them to achieve a new identity."
He added that a coalition with the Radicals would be "disastrous" for
the Socialists.
"In any future elections, nationalist voters would say: 'Why should I
vote for Socialists if they are the same as Radicals?'"
The Socialists campaigned in a coalition with two other groups,
including one led by populist leader Dragan Markovic, who indicated he
would rather join Tadic than the nationalists in any new government.
"We are doomed without cooperation with the European Union," Markovic
said after election results were released. "Our future and the future
of our children is in the European Union."
After Milosevic's ouster in October 2000 by pro-democracy forces, the
Radicals, rather than the Socialists, took over his legacy.
The ultranationalists protested Milosevic's extradition to the U.N.
war crimes tribunal in 2001, sup****t that later prompted Milosevic to
urge his sup****ters to vote for the Radicals, rather than his own
Socialists.
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