Serbian election does not put Kosovo question to rest

Now that the dust has settled from the Serbian elections, let’s step back and take a look at what actually transpired on 11 May.

All eyes of the world were posted on the voting outcomes – because these elections had been called immediately after Kosovo’s independence move. Serbians on both sides of the issue – for and against – rallied for what turned out to be a very tense and emotive electoral campaign, culminating in death threats to leading candidates.

The decision to call snap elections (for a date that was originally scheduled only for local elections) came after a breakdown in the Serbian government, over an inability to decide how to handle relations with the EU.

Low turnout worried many international observers, who believed that only the most ultra-nationalist Serb voters would turn out for the election. The vote would determine, many felt, which direction Serbia would choose – the path of civil nationalism and democratic freedom, or the path of ultra-nationalist policies and jingoistic threats to its new neighbours.

Kosovo was understandably nervous about the outcome. Kosovar Serbs threatened to create their own parliament within the fledgling state, depending on the outcome of the Serbia vote.

After two days of counting, it emerged that the current president, Boris Tadic, the moderate European-leaning candidate, could proclaim a ‘clear victory’ for his party. However, the victory was anything but clear. Though Tadic’s moderate party took 39% of the vote, the largest nationalist party, which rejects Kosovo’s independence, took 29%. A smaller nationalist party, led by the Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, took only 11.3% of the vote.

While most of Europe rejoiced in this ‘outright’ victory, closer observers have noted that this election actually makes Serbia more unstable than it did before the election. Despite the electoral gains of the pro-Europe party and the electoral losses of the pro-nationalist party, the legislature is now deadlocked right down the middle. Relations with the EU are going to be even more tenuous than before.

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