Serbs vote in presidential poll

Serbia yesterday in a watershed presidential election runoff that pitted a pro-European against an extremist bolstered by anti-Western feelings over Kosovo's looming independence.

Voters advantage of mild winter conditions including intermittent sunshine for a strong early turnout at the 8,500 polling stations across the country, reports said.

They faced a stark choice between incumbent reformist Boris Tadic, who campaigned on EU-backed prosperity, and the ultra-nationalist Radical Party's Tomislav Nikolic, who wants stronger ties with Russia.

Nikolic the first round with 40 percent of votes, against Tadic's 35 percent last month.

"Today Serbia chooses its destiny," said the front-page headline in the daily Blic.

Opinion say the vote is too close to call, but give Tadic a narrow lead.

Many victory for Nikolic could undo progress made since Serbs overthrew late president Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

The poll is shaping as a referendum on whether Serbia should continue on the road to the EU or abandon the process drawn out by its failure to hand over war crimes fugitives like Bosnian genocide suspect Ratko Mladic.

It has galvanized an electorate traditionally disenchanted by politics and Serbia's slow transition from communism and the war-tarnished Milosevic era.

In the first two hours of voting, some 5 percent of the 6.7 million electorate had cast ballots, said CeSID, a non-governmental organization charged with monitoring the election.

Tadic, who heads the Democratic Party, has appealed to young voters to turn out in force, promising them the trappings of EU accession.

But his election bid is all the more doubtful because Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a conservative nationalist whose party forms a shaky ruling coalition with Tadic's, refused to endorse him for rejecting a tough line on the EU's Kosovo policy.

Nikolic, a 55-year-old former undertaker, has sought to attract Kostunica voters by playing on their anger about the West's readiness to recognize Kosovo's independence, as well as dissatisfaction with crime and corruption.

Both candidates oppose Kosovo's independence, but while Tadic has repeatedly said Serbia has no alternative to a European future, Nikolic says Belgrade should give up its EU path if the bloc's members recognize Kosovo's statehood.

NATO the UN have boosted troops and police in Kosovo in the leadup to the election and the unilateral declaration of independence, which is expected to follow within days of the vote.

Along most EU member nations, the US is ready to recognize Kosovo's independence, boosting Serbian nationalist sentiment and support for Nikolic.

The UN has run Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war drove out Serb forces waging a crackdown on separatist Albanians who comprise about 90 percent of the province's population.

Most Serbs consider the province the cradle of their history, culture and Orthodox Christianity.

The election was triggered by a new Constitution that declares Kosovo an "integral" part of Serbia. The charter was passed almost unanimously in parliament after Montenegro broke away from a union with Belgrade in 2006.