Spécial Serbie

Elections législatives du 21/01/2007

Résultats des élections législatives en Serbie du 22 janvier 2007

Participation : 62%

Elections en Serbie: les ultranationalistes s'imposent mais sans majorité (Parti radical (SRS) de Tomislav Nikolic 28,5%, Parti démocratique (DS) de Boris Tadic 22,9%, Parti démocratique de Serbie (DSS) de Vojislav,  Kostunica 16,8%, G17+ de Mladjan Dinkic 6,8%, Parti socialiste de Serbie (SPS) de feu Slobodan Milosevic 5,9%, Mouvement serbe du renouveau (SPO) de Vuk Draskovic 4,5%

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 13, Part II, 23 January 2007

SERBIAN NATIONALIST LEADER CONCEDES HE CAN'T FORM GOVERNMENT...
Serbian Radical Party (SRS) deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic said late
on January 21 that although his party won the most votes in the
election, it will not be able to form a new government, B92 and Beta
reported the next day. According to early returns and exit-poll
estimates, the SRS should control 81 seats in the 250-member
parliament (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 22, 2007). "We are not
going to have an opportunity to form the government, while those who
stated they were not going to team up with us will have a hard time
finding partners elsewhere," Nikolic said. He also said that the SRS
does not expect to join any new governing coalition. Speaking at a
press conference on January 22, Nikolic said there is a strong
probability Serbia will need to hold new elections, Makfax reported
the same day. "Even in the event that a government is formed in
Serbia, it won't last until the end of the year," he said. BW

..AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY SAYS IT SHOULD LEAD... The Democratic Party's
(DS) candidate for prime minister, Bozidar Djelic, said on January 22
that he expects President and DS leader Boris Tadic to ask him to
head a new government, B92 and Beta reported the same day. Exit polls
and early returns show the DS receiving 65 seats in parliament.
Djelic said Serbia needs a new government as soon as possible and
that the DS remains open to working with all parties except the SRS
and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). He added that it is time for
politicians and parties to "forget what was said in the campaign and
turn to Serbia and its progress." Likewise, Tadic said the DS is now
the democratic bloc leader and should hold the post of prime
minister. Asked if he would be willing to let another party name the
prime minister should talks fail, Tadic said, "I don't think so." BW

..AND OUTGOING PREMIER REFUSES TO REVEAL INTENTIONS. Outgoing Prime
Minister Vojislav Kostunica refused to reveal on January 22 whether
his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) will enter a coalition with the
nationalistic SRS, B92, and Beta reported the same day. Early returns
show the DSS receiving 47 parliamentary seats. Kostunica said it is
"irresponsible to speak about postelection coalitions only several
hours after the first, incomplete results have emerged." Kostunica
added that the DSS will release its negotiating positions for a new
government after internal party consultations. "As for putting
together the new government, the man who is, in a sense, in charge,
is the president," Kostunica said. "It is up to him to come up with a
politician who will secure the parliamentary majority, to find the
person who will have the backing of the majority in the parliament,"
he added. BW

G17 PLUS LEADER SEEKS LIBERAL COALITION. Mladjan Dinkic, leader of
the liberal G17 Plus party, said he favors joining a coalition
government with Tadic's DS and Kostunica's DSS, B92 and Beta reported
on January 22. G17 Plus will receive 19 parliamentary seats,
according to early returns. Dinkic said the DS, DSS, and G17 Plus
together will hold more than 130 seats in the 250-member parliament,
enough to form a strong government. If the three parties were to team
up with smaller parties representing ethnic minorities, they would
control 140 seats. BW

INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS PRAISE SERBIAN ELECTIONS. The Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), and NATO all praised Serbia
on January 22 for holding free and fair elections, B92 reported the
same day. "The elections in Serbia were free and fair," OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly President Goran Lennmarker said. "I was
personally impressed and proud on behalf of the Serb people for the
professional, orderly, and well-organized way they carried out this
election. It bodes well for Serbia's future." PACE delegation head
Tadeusz Iwinski said the elections prove Serbia "has made significant
progress toward ensuring a free expression of the will of the
electorate, whose active participation in the vote shows its intense
involvement in determining the vector of their country's
development." Assen Agov, head of the NATO observer delegation, said
the elections, Serbia's first since joining the alliance's
Partnership for Peace program, were "free and fair." BW

EU LEADERS CONFIDENT PRO-EUROPE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FORMED IN SERBIA.
Despite the SRS's first-place showing in Serbia's elections, European
Union leaders expressed confidence on January 22 that a pro-European
democratic government will be formed, Reuters reported the same day.
"The majority voted for forces that are democratic and pro-European,"
EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said. "I hope very much there
will be a speedy formation of a government that will be on the line
of pro-European forces." Germany, which holds the EU's rotating
Presidency, expressed similar confidence. "The radicals got most
votes but nevertheless two-thirds of the seats in parliament will go
to democratic forces," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier said. "I believe that is going to be the basis for a
government that is going to lead the country on a path toward
Europe." BW

EXIT POLL GIVES NATIONALISTS LEAD IN SERBIAN ELECTIONS... According
to an exit poll by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy
(CESID), the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) won the most seats in
Serbia's January 21 general elections, international news agencies
reported the same day. The nationalist SRS won 28.7 percent of the
vote and, according to CESID estimates, will receive 81 seats in
Serbia's 250-member parliament. President Boris Tadic's pro-Western
Democratic Party (DS) came in second place with 22.9 percent and will
have 65 seats. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's moderately
nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) came in third with 16.7
percent and should receive 47 mandates. The liberal G17 Plus party
came in fourth with 6.8 percent and should have 19 seats. The
Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), the party of former President
Slobodan Milosevic, received 5.9 percent for an estimated 16 seats.
The Liberal Democratic Party won 5.3 percent, according to the CESID
poll, and will have 15 seats. CESID estimated turnout at 60.4
percent. BW

..BUT LIBERAL COALITION WOULD HAVE MAJORITY. CESID program director
Marko Blagojivic said a coalition of centrist and pro-Western liberal
parties will most likely form the next Serbian government, Bloomberg
reported on January 21. Blagojivic said the most likely scenario is a
coalition of Tadic's DS, Kostunica's DSS, and G17 Plus. "When you
count the results, these three parties will have a majority. They
don't have a choice. Either they form a government or we won't have
one at all," Bloomberg quoted Blagojivic as saying. Speaking after
the election, President Tadic said pro-Western parties vastly
outnumber nationalist parties and could form a strong government,
Reuters reported. "This is really possible. We have a two-thirds
majority in our parliament," he said. Prime Minister Kostunica, whose
DSS has often had contentious relations with Tadic's DS, gave no
clear hint of his intentions. "Coalition talks are ahead of us,"
Reuters quoted Kostunica as saying. "We are open. We expect other
parties to be responsible." BW

VOTING PROCEEDS SMOOTHLY IN KOSOVA WITH KFOR PRESENCE. Electoral
officials said on January 21 that voting in Serbian regions of Kosova
proceeded smoothly, B92 reported the same day. "There are several
police and KFOR vehicles in downtown Orahovac," Orahovac Election
Commission coordinator Dejan Baljosevic said. "They say they are not
there to secure the elections, but they are still there. I believe
citizens will turn out in greater numbers in the afternoon." "The
Washington Times" reported on January 21 that two U.S. platoons, one
Austrian, and one Georgian were deployed to a NATO camp at Leposavic,
near the Serbian border, in late December to provide security for the
vote. BW

KOSOVAR LEADERS MARK FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT'S DEATH.
Political leaders and ethnic Albanians marked the first anniversary
of the death of Kosovar President Ibrahim Rugova on January 20, AP
and B92 reported the same day. "We keep a permanent memory in our
hearts and souls for this big man of Kosova, who dedicated his life
to freedom, independence, and Kosova's democracy," President Fatmir
Sejdiu said after laying a bouquet of flowers on Rugova's grave.
Rugova led the Democratic League of Kosova (LDK), the province's
largest political party, and was elected twice as the province's
president. He died of lung cancer while still in office (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," January 23, 2006). BW

LES ULTRANATIONALISTES ARRIVENT EN TETE,
DES ELECTIONS LEGISLATIVES EN SERBIE