Serbia and Kosovo: Stalemate and Uncertainty
Serbia and Kosovo: Stalemate and Uncertainty

Summary/Abstract: Far from simple to start with, the domestic political situation in Serbia has been further complicated by the early parliamentary elections held on May 11. Neither the pro-European nor the nationalist forces were able to claim a clear victory in the Skupstina, the single-chamber Parliament of 250 representatives, and it is thus expected that several rounds of negotiations over weeks, or even months, will precede the formation of a new government that will hardly be considered stable. The Europe-oriented parties – including the “For a European Serbia” (ZES) coalition, which includes the Democratic Party (DS) led by Serbian President Boris Tadic – did much better than expected, acquiring 102 seats in Parliament. However, they are still not strong enough to form a majority government with the other democratic parties, the Hungarian Coalition of Vojvodina or the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). It follows from this stalemate-like situation the that DS will have to marshal the support of a nationalist party as well, and accordingly Tadic and his staff are primarily trying to win over the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), established by Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian – and then Yugoslav – head of state who died in 2006. However, such a forced marriage could hardly remain functional in the long term. Although the SPS has made a half-hearted effort to distance itself from the heritage of Milosevic (one of the clearest signs of this being the secession of a group that does not agree with the “opportunists” in the party a few months ago), the first priority of the party led by Ivica Dacic is to regain Kosovo, which announced its independence on 17 February 2008.[…]

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