Serbians voting in presidential run-off

PanARMENIAN.Net - Serbians are voting on Sunday, May 20 in a tense run-off presidential election pitting pro-western reformist Boris Tadic against his conservative opponent Tomislav Nikolic, RIA Novosti reported.

The first round of the election was held on May 6, with Tadic gaining a slight advantage of 10,000 votes or 0.26 percent over Nikolic. This time one of the candidates has simply to gain the majority of votes to win the election.

Tadic, who has already served two terms in office, stepped down on April 6 in order to take part in the election and announced his candidacy for re-election on the same day. He has said the May 20 presidential run-off is a referendum on whether Serbia is headed to the EU membership.

Tadic is unpopular with nationalists, who blame him for Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008.

Tadic has made a number of political concessions including permission for Kosovo to take part in multilateral international meetings as a separate entity. Many analysts described the move as “semi-recognition” of the region’s independence from Serbia.