WRAP Electoral commission says hardliner Nikolic in lead ADDS Solana скачать в хорошем качестве

WRAP Electoral commission says hardliner Nikolic in lead ADDS Solana

(21 Jan 2008) Belgrade, Serbia 1. Wide of Parliament building 2. Serbian flag 3. Mid of Electoral Commission news conference 4. Close-up of Serbian symbol 5. Assembled media 6. Close-up of reporters 7. Reporter's hand holding document with statistic results 8. SOUNDBITE: (Serbian) Dejan Djurdjevic, Vice President of Electoral Commission: "The Electoral Commission checked and submitted the results from 8460 voting polls, which is 98.68% from all the voting polls. Results are as follows: Tomislav Nikolic, Serbian Radical party candidate, has won 39.96% in presidential vote and Boris Tadic 35.41%." 9. Mid of Electoral Commission at news conference 10. Close-up of electoral charts 11. Electoral Commission leaving news conference Brussels, Belgium 12. Wide of exterior Council of the European Union building 13. Close-up of EU flag 14. EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana talking to journalists 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy: "The election had very high turnout, which proves that there is a tremendous interest among the people of Serbia to produce a democratic outcome of this elections. We hope very much, second thing, that there will be a sentiment of getting closer to the European Union. We are ready, we have a very good relations with Serbia and would like very much to see Serbia closer to the European Union." 16. Solana leaving STORYLINE Serbia's pro-Western president will face a strong ultra-nationalist candidate in a runoff election for the presidency, according to first round results on Monday that gave the radical challenger a slight edge. Dejan Djurdjevic, Vice President of the Electoral Commission, told a news conference in Belgrade on Monday; "The Electoral Commission checked and submitted the results from 8460 voting polls, which is 98.68% from all the voting polls. Results are as follows: Tomislav Nikolic, Serbian Radical party candidate, has won 39.96% in presidential vote and Boris Tadic 35.41%." The state electoral commission said that Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic won 39 percent of Sunday's vote, while pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic had 35 percent, forcing the two into a February 3 runoff. Placed third was populist Velimir Ilic with about 7 percent, followed by Socialist Party official Milutin Mrkonjic with about 6 percent. The anti-Western policies of those two candidates are much closer to Nikolic's, and a majority of their votes are likely to go to the hard-liner in the runoff, analysts say. But Tadic could pick up the votes that went to liberal leader Cedomir Jovanovic, who was placed fifth in the first round with about 5 percent. The vote could determine whether the troubled Balkan nation will move closer to the European Union or sink back into isolation similar to that of the 1990s era of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. The former Yugoslav president died in 2006 before his genocide trial at a UN war crimes tribunal could be completed. The pro-Russian Nikolic has sought to evoke Serbs' nationalist pride and has played on the growing frustration over US and EU backing for Kosovo independence. A Milosevic ally, Nikolic ruled alongside the former president in the 1990s. His return to power likely would bury Serbia's EU aspirations and instead lean Serbia more towards Russia. Looming over the vote is the expected declaration of independence next month by the separatist Kosovo province, Serbia's medieval heartland, which is now dominated by pro-independence ethnic Albanians. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...