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Serbia's pro-European camp claims election victory

AFP - Monday, May 12

BELGRADE (AFP) - - Serbian President Boris Tadic, the flag-bearer for a pro-European alliance, claimed victory in general elections on Sunday.

"At this moment, it is important to say that the citizens of Serbia have undoubtedly confirmed a clear European path for Serbia," Tadic told a press conference.

"They confirmed the aim to preserve our territorial integrity and sovereignty," added Tadic, the leader of the Democratic Party (DS), in reference to Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province.

"I just want to remind you that (Kosovo's ethnic Albanian) authorities proclaimed independence just a couple of weeks ago.

"Despite such temptation, the Serbian people, all ethnic communities, have shown high political conscience and voted for the European path," he said in reference to fears of an anti-European voter backlash after some 40 mostly Western countries recognised Kosovo's statehood.

He added: "It is necessary to form a government as soon as possible."

The polls were a virtual referendum asking voters to choose between entering or rebuffing the European Union in a backlash to the independence of Kosovo, which most Serbs see as their historic heartland.

They were triggered by the collapse in March of the coalition government of nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in a rift over how to deal with integration into the European Union after most EU states recognised Kosovo.

Earlier, counts by the electoral commission, poll monitors and various parties showed Tadic's "For a European Serbia" alliance was on course for a surprise victory in the parliamentary polls.

The pro-European camp was "convincingly winning these elections" with around 39 percent of the vote versus 28 percent for the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, Zoran Lucic, of the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), told AFP.

Back in the rear with 11 percent was the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), of outgoing nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

The Socialist Party of late autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic would muster only around eight percent of the vote, against 5.2 percent for the pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party.

Based on this, Tadic's pro-European camp would win 103 places in Serbia's 250-seat parliament, compared with 76 seats for the Radicals, 21 for the Socialists, 30 for the DSS, 13 for the LDP and seven for minorities.

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