Narrow gap between Serbia's pro European and anti European parties

Serbian Radical PartyBelgrade - The Serbian Radical Party could win between 1.4 and 1.55 million votes in Sunday's snap poll, closely followed by pro-European block led by president Boris Tadic with between 1.35 and 1.5 million votes, polls published on Wednesday showed.

The survey by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) thinktank showed that the gap between anti European Radical Party and Tadic's Democratic party has narrowed thanks to the signing of Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union last week.

According to the previous, April poll, Radicals could have got 1.48 and Democratic party 1.37 million votes.

The survey also showed that caretaker Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia could win between 450,000 and 500,000 votes, the fiercely pro-European Liberal Democratic Party between 270,000 and 330,000 votes, and the bloc around late strongman Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists between 250,000 and
320,000 votes.

Regardless who wins the most ballots, neither Radicals nor Tadic's pro European block would have enough seats to form a government. This would put increasingly nationalist Kostunica once again in the position of kingmaker.

According to the survey, around 4.5 million voters will cast a ballot in the early parliamentary elections on May 11, while 330,000 will certainly not vote. Around 550,000 voters are still indecisive.

CESID's survey also showed that Boris Tadic is the politician voters trust the most - 25 per cent, followed by Radical leader Tomislav Nikolic (20 per cent) and Vojislav Kostunica with 10 per cent.

Previous government collapsed when Tadic and Kostunica clashed over the SAA with European Union. CESID researcher Srecko Mihajlovic said after signing the SAA, the percentage of pro Europeans grew from 30 percent to 41 per cent, while the number of anti Europeans fell from 47 per cent to 31 per cent. (dpa)

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