Serbia on Knife-edge in Decisive Election

Serbia is facing days or weeks of political horsetrading over the shape of a new government after yesterday's closely fought election.

The ballot was the most closely watched in the Balkans in years, with a vote that could either put Serbia on a fast track to European integration or thrust the entire region into greater nationalist instability.

Only days before a UN mediator, Martti Ahtisaari, unveils proposals redrawing Serbia's borders and carving a new state out of its Albanian-majority southern province of Kosovo, extreme nationalists and democrats are expected to be vying for control.

With full results due today, the ballot was expected to put the conservative nationalist prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, in third place, but able to decide whether to go into a coalition with either the extreme nationalists of the Radical party or pro-European democrats led by President Boris Tadic. "We will win and make sure that Kosovo remains part of Serbia," said the Radicals' leader, Tomislav Nikolic.

Mr Ahtisaari is to deliver his blueprint for a complex form of Kosovo independence to US, Russian, and European officials on Friday before revealing it next week to Serbian and Kosovo Albanian leaders.

Ana Popovic, a Belgrade student, said she was voting for the nationalists. "They can keep the nation mobilised against traitors at home and pressure from abroad," she told Bloomberg news agency. "Serbs and the Serbian nation must prevail."

Mr Tadic, the leader of the Democrats, who have been running neck-and-neck with the Radicals in the opinion polls, has said the election will decide the fate of the country for the next 20 years.

The level of international engagement in trying to secure a Tadic victory emphasised the high stakes. The British, American and German ambassadors in Belgrade all spoke out yesterday as people voted.

"Serb voters have the chance to clearly say they do not share the retrograde vision of extremists who would be happy to turn Serbia into an isolated island blinded by nationalism," said the US ambassador, Michael Polt.

European officials also urged a high turnout and by afternoon, according to independent monitors, around 40% of voters had turned out, a higher level than usual and encouraging for the Democrats and liberals around Mr Tadic.

The election result is expected to dominate a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels today and the international focus will now shift to Kosovo, with Washington pushing for a swift imposed settlement eight years after the Serbian authorities were driven out by Nato and the region was placed under UN control.

After unveiling his settlement plans this week, Mr Ahtisaari hopes to convene a couple of weeks of negotiations between the Serbs and the Kosovo Albanians before taking his proposals to the UN in March for a security council resolution.

The Russians, however, are backing the Serbs and threatening to veto any imposition of Kosovo independence. European officials say that it remains unclear what the Russians will do.

The percentage turnout by this afternoon, was high for Serbian elections and an encouraging sign for the pro-European parties