SERBIA TURNS A CORNER
Kim BytyciTHE GUARDIAN
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kim_bytyci/2008/05/serbia_turns_a_corner.html
May 14, 2008 4:30 PM
Serbia turns a corner
Boris Tadic's victory last weekend is good for Serbia, and holds out the hope that the country can let go of Kosovo and start tackling its own problems
As the results were being declared following the parliamentary elections in Serbia, I felt somehow vindicated. Soon after the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, had announced the collapse of his government, I said I wouldn't be very surprised if his party failed to attain the 5% threshold required to enter parliament. I also predicted a possible drop in the vote of the Radical Party.
The decisive lead taken by the pro-European coalition of the president, Boris Tadic, surprised many who have observed the campaign during the few past weeks. Before the elections, opinion polls had predicted a neck-and-neck fight between Tadic's Democratic Party and the nationalist Radical Party.
Around seven million voters were eligible to vote and the turnout was 60.7%, according to the non-governmental Centre for Free Elections and Democracy. Tadic's Pro-European bloc took 38.7%, securing 103 parliamentary seats. The Radical Party, which gained the largest share of the vote last year, trailed with 29.1% or 77 deputies. Kostunica's bloc saw its vote drop from over 16% last year to 11.3% or 20 seats.
The result is a victory for the moderate forces in Serbia and helps to pave the way towards European integration. The EU has welcomed the results. At the same it makes cooperation within the Balkans much easier. Kosovo's declaration of independence was considered a major campaign issue. Disagreement over how to react towards the countries that had recognised Kosovo brought down the coalition between Tadic's allies and those of prime minister Kostunica.
The decisive lead by the pro-European forces does not allow any of the parties to form a government without seeking to widen the coalition. Talks have started between different parties and all options remain open.
My reasons for such bold predictions were simple. Given a real choice between the past and the future, the people would opt for the future. Over a decade of propaganda and war have left the Balkans scarred for many years to come. People in Serbia may indeed have been the least directly affected by the traumas of war across the former Yugoslavia.
But the trauma of disillusionment, however virtual, is nonetheless real. For over two decades, the Serbs have lived with a hardline policy largely based on the myth of Kosovo. That myth, first brought officially to the scene by the former president, Slobodan Milosevic, was kept alive by the political elite.
Kosovo's independence may not have been welcomed by the majority of Serbs who, like Tadic himself, remain opposed to its independence. Tadic based his campaign on the need for Serbia to argue the case for a resumption of sovereignty over Kosovo. How many people believe in such a possibility is a hypothetical question. But the declaration of independence has no doubt opened the way for new thinking and a real opportunity to focus on more immediate issues of economy, health and education that concern ordinary people.
It will be some time before the politicians in Serbia base their campaigns on the need for personal welfare rather than the integrity of the state, which for many years has not functioned as an integral country. This week's election results are a welcome and encouraging step in that direction.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kim_bytyci/2008/05/serbia_turns_a_corner.html
posted by Euro-Korrespondent @ 6:50 PM
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