Serbia: Nationalist Party Winning Elections

Belgrade, 29 December 2003 (RFE/RL) -- Projections show a hard-line Serbian nationalist party has won the most votes in Serbia's parliamentary elections, but is falling far short of the majority needed to govern on its own. The Radical Party led by Vojislav Seselj, who is imprisoned on war-crimes charges at The Hague, was taking 27.7 percent of the 28 December vote, according to projections released by the nongovernmental Center for Free Elections and Democracy.

This result, if confirmed officially, would give the party 82 seats in the 250-member parliament.

Also winning seats, taking a projected 7.6 percent, was the Socialist Party of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is also on trial at The Hague.

Three pro-reform parties were together taking a projected 42 percent of the vote, while a coalition of two pro-monarchy parties was projected to win about 8 percent.

It was not immediately clear what kind of governing coalition might emerge from the highly split result. The voter turnout was estimated at about 60 percent.