Serbian presidential election goes to runoff

BELGRADE -- The Serb Progressive Party (SNS) and their coalition received 24.7 percent of votes, while that led by the Democratic party (DS) won 23.2 percent.

The CeSID news conference (Tanjug)

This is according to first preliminary data on the results of the parliamentary elections, published by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID).

The Socialist Party of Serbia - the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia-United Serbia (SPS- PUPS-JS) coalition was third, supported by a total of 16.6 percent of the electorate, CeSID Program Director Marko Blagojević said at a press conference held late on Sunday in Belgrade.

The preliminary results are not final since results from polling places in Kosovo and Metohija have not yet been obtained.

The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) holds the fourth place with 7.2 percent of votes, followed by the United Regions of Serbia (URS) with 6.1 percent and U-Turn, headed by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), with 6.6 percent.

The Serb Radical Party (SRS) was at the very limit of the electoral threshold with five percent. Results from the elections in Kosovo will tell whether the party will secure seats in the next parliament.

Of the minority parties the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) won 2.4 percent of votes, the None of the Above list garnered 0.5 percent support from voters, the Party of Democratic Action of Sandžak, headed by Sulejman Ugljanin, won 0.4 percent of votes, the coalition All Together: BDZ, GSM, DZH, DZVM - Emir Elfić with 0.4 percent of votes managed to cross the threshold, while the Albanian Coalition from Preševo Valley and the Montenegrin Party, headed by Nenad Stevović, with 0.1 percent of votes each, failed to do so.

The remaining lists did not exceed the election threshold, garnering a total of 7 percent of votes, said CeSID.

At the same time, the presidential race is set to be decided in the runoff two weeks from now, considering that none of the candidates won over 50 percent of the votes cast this Sunday.

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy announced in Belgrade that unofficial results showed DS candidate Boris Tadić had won 27.4 percent, followed by Tomislav Nikolić with 24.8 percent of the vote.

Leader of the Socialists (SPS) Ivica Dačić has received 15.2 percent, according to these results.

DSS leader Vojislav Koštunica came in at number four with 7.7 percent.

Other candidates fared as follows: Zoran Stanković (URS), 7.1 percent; Čedomir Jovanović (LDP), 5.5 percent; Jadranka Šešelj (SRS), 3.8 percent.

Analysts are warning that the results could change once the ballots cast in Kosovo and Metohija have been counted during the night, but that there is no doubt that presidential elections will be decided in the second round.

Serbians on May 6 elected the country's new parliament, local governments, and the provincial assembly of Vojvodina, and voted in the first round of the presidential election.