Post by Fender on Jan 11, 2008 6:40:24 GMT -5
Serbia bars US, British observers from monitoring presidential election
Jan 11 2008, 13:07
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbia's electoral commission has barred observers from the United States and Britain from monitoring its presidential election later this month.
One member of the electoral commission, which made the decision late Thursday, said observers from the two countries were unwelcome because of their backing of Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia.
The commission said it decided to allow 23 monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and three from Russia to observe the Jan. 20 vote.
The election will pit the leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical party, Tomislav Nikolic, against President Boris Tadic, who leads the pro-Western Democratic Party. Also in the race are several minor candidates.
The election is considered crucial for Serbia as it stands to choose whether to press on with pro-Western integration or return to the nationalist past, when the country faced international sanctions for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
The Radical party's representative in the electoral commission, Slavoljub Milenkovic, said that the US and British monitors were barred "because their countries want to destroy us and grab Kosovo away from Serbia."
The United States and most EU nations have backed independence for Kosovo, a southern Serbian province that has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when a NATO air war forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.
But Serbia and Russia fiercely oppose statehood for the province, which is considered the cradle of Serbia's medieval statehood and religion.
The decision to block US and British monitors highlights the growing nationalism and anti-Western sentiment in Serbia as it seeks to keep Kosovo from breaking away.
Jan 11 2008, 13:07
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbia's electoral commission has barred observers from the United States and Britain from monitoring its presidential election later this month.
One member of the electoral commission, which made the decision late Thursday, said observers from the two countries were unwelcome because of their backing of Kosovo's drive for independence from Serbia.
The commission said it decided to allow 23 monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and three from Russia to observe the Jan. 20 vote.
The election will pit the leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical party, Tomislav Nikolic, against President Boris Tadic, who leads the pro-Western Democratic Party. Also in the race are several minor candidates.
The election is considered crucial for Serbia as it stands to choose whether to press on with pro-Western integration or return to the nationalist past, when the country faced international sanctions for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
The Radical party's representative in the electoral commission, Slavoljub Milenkovic, said that the US and British monitors were barred "because their countries want to destroy us and grab Kosovo away from Serbia."
The United States and most EU nations have backed independence for Kosovo, a southern Serbian province that has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when a NATO air war forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.
But Serbia and Russia fiercely oppose statehood for the province, which is considered the cradle of Serbia's medieval statehood and religion.
The decision to block US and British monitors highlights the growing nationalism and anti-Western sentiment in Serbia as it seeks to keep Kosovo from breaking away.