Tomislav Nikolic, an ally of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic was elected as new parliament speaker yesterday, signaling a return of ultranationalists to power in the Balkan country.
Nikolic, a leader of the Serbian Radical Party, was elected to the highly influential position -- second in line behind the president -- thanks to the votes of the conservative party of outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Nikolic received 142 votes out of 244 lawmakers present at a stormy marathon parliamentary session that lasted for nearly 15 hours, running into early yesterday. A candidate of the pro-Western Democratic Party, Milena Milosevic, received 99 votes.
The election made Nikolic the first hard-line nationalist to get a top job since Milosevic was ousted from power in 2000 in a popular pro-Western revolt.
The choice of Nikolic reflected the rise in Serbian nationalism, amid prospects that Kosovo may gain independence, as envisaged by a UN plan and a failure by democratic parties to form a coalition government after Jan. 21 elections.
At stake is whether the Balkan country would restart pre-entry talks with the EU or return to the isolation policies of Milosevic, who died last year while on trial on genocide charges at the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
After his election, Nikolic said: "I'm not a danger for Serbia" and pledged to conduct the assembly sessions "in a democratic manner."
Pro-democrats warned that by supporting the radical candidate, Kostunica's conservatives had left the camp that toppled Milosevic and joined his allies, who took Serbia to four wars during his decade-long rule in the 1990s.
"Serbia today made a step back to the 90s, to the dark days of Milosevic's reign," said Vladan Batic, a leader of a pro-Western opposition party.
Nikolic is a fierce nationalist known for his anti-Western stands, including demands that Serbia shelve its EU aspirations and focus on maintaining close ties with Russia and China. He also has advocated military intervention in Kosovo if the breakaway ethnic Albanian-populated province becomes independent.
"Nikolic epitomizes war, isolation and misery," Cedomir Jovanovic of the Liberal Democratic Party leader said.
He called on Serbia's pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, to dissolve the parliament and call new general elections.
In Brussels, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he was "troubled by the inability of the reform-oriented, pro-European parties ... to form a government so far."
"This is a litmus test of the rule of law in Serbia," Rehn said. "In spite of the worrying signals coming out of the Serbian Parliament today, I hope the reform-oriented parties will still give careful consideration to the wish of a majority of Serbia's electorate for a European future."
Kostunica's conservatives and the Democrats, led by President Tadic, have failed to agree on key Cabinet posts, despite next Monday's deadline to do so or face new elections, which could bring the ultranationalists back to power.
Kostunica insists on remaining the leader of a new government, although his party came in third in the January elections. Still, neither the pro-Western Democrats nor the ultranationalists can form the new government without support from Kostunica's party.
Brussels insists that Belgrade extradite war crimes suspect General Ratko Mladic to the UN tribunal in the Netherlands before entry talks with Serbia resume.
Extraditing Mladic, however, depends on who controls Serbia's security services -- the key point of dispute between Kostunica and Tadic. Tadic has sought to take over control of the intelligence agencies after they failed to capture Mladic during Kostunica's tenure.
The Radical party could capitalize on the power struggle by forming the government with Kostunica or by gaining more parliamentary seats in new elections.
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