Belgrade, Nov 16: Serbian voters go back to the polls today to elect a president, choosing between reformist and nationalist candidates, after two earlier elections failed due to insufficient turnout. The biggest challenge for the candidates is to attract more than a half of the registered 6.5 million voters between them, amid widespread voter apathy and the leading opposition parties' call for a boycott.
Although six candidates have their names on the ballots for the Serbian presidency, the main battle is between veteran leader of the ruling coalition, Dragoljub Micunovic, 73, and a younger firebrand from the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, 49-year-old Tomislav Nikolic.
The last two attempts to elect a president, a post vacant since September 2002, failed because the turnout was below the required 50 percent for the result to be valid.
Three years after the Dos ousted former strongman Slobodan Milosevic from power, people are disappointed with the slowness of reforms, rising prices, reports of corruption among officials and daily bickering between once-united democratic leaders.
The Dos coalition was dealt a possibly fatal blow in March when its former leader and prime minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated by a mafia sniper in Belgrade.
Bureau Report