By RIA Novosti,
Belgrade : Serbs are voting on Sunday in a key parliamentary election expected to decide the country’s future.
A pro-Western alliance led by President Boris Tadic is running against the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party in a closely contested early parliamentary vote.
The Radicals want to put Serbia’s EU membership on hold and continue to lay claim to Serbia’s former province of Kosovo that unilaterally declared independence in February while the Democrats push for the country’s integration with Europe.
Serbia’s government collapsed early in March when nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said he refused to govern alongside the Democratic Party, led by President Tadic, after the party insisted on pursuing EU membership despite several EU states’ recognizing Kosovo’s independence.
Tadic earlier said the election was a new chance for Serbia to reinforce the country’s economic perspectives through the process of integration with Europe while Kostunica said Serbia’s parliamentary polls would give Serbs the chance to make it clear that Belgrade would only integrate into Europe if Kosovo was part of the country.
Kosovo, with a 90% ethnic-Albanian majority, has been formally recognized as a sovereign state by over 35 countries including the U.S. and most EU members since it proclaimed its independence from Serbia on February 17.
Russia, Serbia’s long-time ally and a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, has refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence.