BELGRADE, SERBIA — In an upset, pro-West democrats declared victory late Sunday in crucial Serbian elections dominated by questions of pride and humiliation, and whether Serbia has a future in the West or must take refuge in old-school nationalism.
Partial returns put the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic ahead of his ultranationalist rivals, defying preelection surveys. Still, Tadic will have to find coalition partners in order to govern, and he doesn't have many suitors. The nationalists did not concede defeat and said they might try to form a ruling coalition themselves.
"Serbia has shown it doesn't want to go backwards," Tadic said Sunday night after claiming a narrow win. Thousands of his supporters rallied outside party headquarters or celebrated in the streets of Belgrade. "Serbs have undoubtedly confirmed a clear European path for Serbia."
Much was at stake: A win by the nationalists -- led by the Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is on trial for war crimes -- would have posed a threat to stability in this volatile region, analysts said. Propelled by outrage over the U.S.-backed secession of Kosovo, many Serbs were turning to the Radicals, who governed in coalition with the late dictator Slobodan Milosevic during the war-torn 1990s. A Radical government would also deal a major setback to democratic reformers in the post-Milosevic transition, activists said.
In the end, however, it seemed the nationalist vote splintered among several parties, clearing the way for Tadic and his liberal coalition, who have championed Serbia's pursuit of membership in the European Union, to prevail.
Earlier in the day, Tadic had said the elections were "vitally important" for Serbia.
Speaking to his supporters Sunday night, Tadic reiterated his determination to hold on to Kosovo, the majority ethnic Albanian province that unilaterally declared independence from Serbia three months ago. But he sketched an agenda that is otherwise the absolute opposite of the Radicals': He pledged to continue cooperating with the war crimes tribunal at The Hague and to hand over remaining fugitives, and to aggressively tie the nation to Europe.
Serbia's immediate political future remains unclear. No single party will win enough votes to govern alone, and Tadic's Democrats will have to find a coalition partner, although they are outnumbered by nationalist parties.
