Analyst: Early elections more likely than ever

The ruling coalition is postponing the inevitable – calling new parliamentary elections, Vladimir Goati says. Goati, who is the president of Transparency Serbia, told the daily Blic that the political situation in the country amounts to parties "buying time until the new ballot". Analyst: Early elections more likely than ever The ruling coalition has so far used all its might to keep the government together, since there is no realistic assessment when the elections should be held, he added. The cabinet is made up of President Boris Tadic's Democrats (DS), Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) – and their pre-election coalition partners, Velimir Ilic's New Serbia (NS) – and G17 Plus. "The government has a congenital flaw, since its head comes from a party that does not have the majority, and there is asymmetry of its electoral power and the power in has within the state apparatus," Goati believes. "The split that the government will, it seems, find it hard to overcome is whether a strong and stable Serbia, an EU member, would better protect the Kosovo interests, than one that would be a constant instability factor in the region," Goati opined. According to him, Kosovo Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence "will not make a major difference in the political scene in Serbia after the early parliamentary elections". But new elections, barely a year after the ones that produced this cabinet, have an alternative: Kostunica's DSS teaming up in parliament with the largest opposition party, the Radicals (SRS), to form a minority government. Goati believes this would lead Serbia into a "new stormy period". "That would mean that DS and G17 Plus will leave the government, Serbia's political scene would freeze, initiating inner conflicts, while the lives of citizens would be made even more uncertain and insecure," Goati believes. Alliance in its last days? Kostunica, Tadic (Tanjug, archive)

Analyst: Early elections more likely than ever

The ruling coalition has so far used all its might to keep the government together, since there is no realistic assessment when the elections should be held, he added.

The cabinet is made up of President Boris Tadić's Democrats (DS), Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) – and their pre-election coalition partners, Velimir Ilić's New Serbia (NS) – and G17 Plus.

"The government has a congenital flaw, since its head comes from a party that does not have the majority, and there is asymmetry of its electoral power and the power in has within the state apparatus," Goati believes.

"The split that the government will, it seems, find it hard to overcome is whether a strong and stable Serbia, an EU member, would better protect the Kosovo interests, than one that would be a constant instability factor in the region," Goati opined.

According to him, Kosovo Albanians' unilateral declaration of independence "will not make a major difference in the political scene in Serbia after the early parliamentary elections".

But new elections, barely a year after the ones that produced this cabinet, have an alternative: Koštunica's DSS teaming up in parliament with the largest opposition party, the Radicals (SRS), to form a minority government.

Goati believes this would lead Serbia into a "new stormy period".

"That would mean that DS and G17 Plus will leave the government, Serbia's political scene would freeze, initiating inner conflicts, while the lives of citizens would be made even more uncertain and insecure," Goati believes.