JOHN YDSTIE, host:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm John Ydstie.
Voters in Serbia go to the polls today in what's expected to be a close contest between Nationalists and pro-Western Reformers, but the vote is overshadowed by an upcoming United Nations decision on granting independence to the breakaway province of Kosovo, which is mostly ethnic Albania. None of the major Serbian parties is willing to declare that Kosovo is lost.
NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Belgrade.
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SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Under Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, Serbia has just begun to emerge from the economic morass left by the Slobodan Milosevic and the devastating ethnic wars he launched. At his finally rally, Kostunica spoke proudly of Serbia's seven percent annual growth and the foreign investments pouring into the country. But his major focus was not the economy.
Prime Minister VOJISLAV KOSTUNICA (Serbia): (Through translator) Kosovo is ours. It is an integral part of Serbia and we will never give it up. The U.N. Charter upholds our territorial integrity and inviolability of our borders.
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POGGIOLI: The cheering crowd chanted Kostunica's slogan Long Live Serbia. The rival Democratic Party held its final campaign rally the next day; same time, same place, but with a very different cast of characters.
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POGGIOLI: The crowd was younger, more urban, and more impatient, reflecting the party slogan Life Cannot Wait. Party leader and President of Serbia Boris Tadic proclaimed Serbia's destiny is in the European Union.
President BORIS TADIC (Serbia): (Through translator) We are fully dedicated to fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of people who want to live a better life, and who want to forget past suffering.
POGGIOLI: Kostunica and Tadic are rivals for the Democratic vote, but polls suggest the largest number of votes is likely to go to the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, whose leader, Vojislav Seselj, is in prison awaiting trial at the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague. For Western leaders, a Serbian government including the Radicals is the worst possible outcome.
In the lead-up to the election, government officials from Sweden, Austria, Greece and Slovakia flocked to Belgrade. The U.S. Senate adopted a resolution and British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent an open letter, all aimed at urging Serbs to vote for the Democratic parties. The West hopes a governing coalition of reformists will finally hand over to the War Crimes Tribunal the elusive Ratko Mladic; and more urgently, show flexibility over Kosovo. But polling analyst/surgeon Boco Slauvic(ph) says seven years after the West bombed Serbia and virtually wrested control of Kosovo from Belgrade, no party wants to take responsibility for losing what's still seen as the cradle of the Serbian nation.
Mr. BOCO SLAUVIC (Polling Analyst): Almost nobody is in favor of Kosovo being independent. It's five to 10 percentage are saying Kosovo should be independent, almost nobody.
POGGIOLI: Vladeta Jankovic, advisor to Kostunica, says holding on to Kosovo is also a matter of regional stability. He warns that giving into ethnic Albanian demands for independence could unleash a domino effect, not only in the Balkans but also in other European countries with restless ethnic minorities.
Mr. VLADETA JANKOVIC (Advisor): These are all the reasons why we are so stubbornly sticking to our opposition to Kosovo independence. And I will have reminded that we are not alone any longer.
POGGIOLI: Serbia enjoys the support of both China and Russia, which could use their Security Council veto power to block any U.N. Kosovo plan objectionable to Belgrade. But here in Serbia, the international stakes of the elections are overshadowed by another concern, a possibly low turnout, especially among the young.
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POGGIOLI: A group of students mingles near the university. Mida Puatcha(ph) is not going to vote. She says politicians are just using the Kosovo issue.
Ms. MIDA PUATCHA (Student): They're lying to people that Kosovo is part of Serbia. It's not. The fact is it's not part of Serbia for the last seven years. So it's just another big lie of the politicians with they're populism, so - and like the spread of nationalism that they get people to vote for them, because that's what people want to hear. But that's not the reality.
POGGIOLI: Puatcha, like many people of her generation, says there are other urgent priorities, such as fighting corruption and providing real prospects for young people, many of whom polls show dream of escaping Serbia to find a better life in another country.
Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Belgrade. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
