Serbia nationalists claim 28,5 per cent victory

RADICAL leader Tomislav Nikolic called on the government to resign.

The nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) has a clear lead in the country’s elections, early results suggest. An election monitoring group said the Radicals had taken 28,5% of the vote, but they are not expected to find partners to form a governing coalition.The pro-EU Democratic Party (DS) and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) were credited with 22% and 17% respectively.EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s ties with Belgrade and the future of Kosovo.”The majority voted for forces that are democratic and pro-European,” said Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, as he arrived.”I hope very much there will be a speedy formation of a government that will be on the line of pro-European forces”.Serbia’s electoral commission said turnout was about 62% of the 6.6 million eligible voters.After the first projections were announced, the SRS candidate for prime minister, Tomislav Nikolic, said: “We have won as we had expected.””Despite running against the parties led by the prime minister and the president (Boris Tadic) and their vicious campaigns against us, we proved our strength,” Nikolic said.We have been the bridge between Europe and Serbia, people see us as that party, and it explains our results He called for the resignation of President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who both campaigned for closer ties with the European Union.The BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Belgrade says the SRS will not be part of any new government because there is no major party that will go into coalition with them.Nikolic’s group will once again sit on the sidelines whilst more moderate parties struggle with Serbia’s many challenges, our correspondent adds.His party fought a strongly anti-western campaign.Its leader, Vojislav Seselj, is on trial for war crimes at the UN tribunal in The Hague.The SRS ruled the country under late leader Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s.Prime Minister Kostunica, who heads the conservative DSS, brushed away speculation on who will form a coalition with whom.BBCAn election monitoring group said the Radicals had taken 28,5% of the vote, but they are not expected to find partners to form a governing coalition.The pro-EU Democratic Party (DS) and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) were credited with 22% and 17% respectively.EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s ties with Belgrade and the future of Kosovo.”The majority voted for forces that are democratic and pro-European,” said Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, as he arrived.”I hope very much there will be a speedy formation of a government that will be on the line of pro-European forces”.Serbia’s electoral commission said turnout was about 62% of the 6.6 million eligible voters.After the first projections were announced, the SRS candidate for prime minister, Tomislav Nikolic, said: “We have won as we had expected.””Despite running against the parties led by the prime minister and the president (Boris Tadic) and their vicious campaigns against us, we proved our strength,” Nikolic said.We have been the bridge between Europe and Serbia, people see us as that party, and it explains our results He called for the resignation of President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who both campaigned for closer ties with the European Union.The BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Belgrade says the SRS will not be part of any new government because there is no major party that will go into coalition with them.Nikolic’s group will once again sit on the sidelines whilst more moderate parties struggle with Serbia’s many challenges, our correspondent adds.His party fought a strongly anti-western campaign.Its leader, Vojislav Seselj, is on trial for war crimes at the UN tribunal in The Hague.The SRS ruled the country under late leader Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s.Prime Minister Kostunica, who heads the conservative DSS, brushed away speculation on who will form a coalition with whom.BBC