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Belgrade: Serbia's pro-European Union president, Boris Tadic, claimed victory over his nationalist rivals in a parliamentary election on Sunday, but fell short of a majority and faced an immediate challenge.
The independent monitoring organisation CESID, citing projections of the outcome, said Tadic's Democratic Party and its smaller allies would take 39 per cent of the vote.
The Radical Party of hardline nationalist Tomislav Nikolic was running second with 29 per cent, it said.
The election was fought on whether Serbs should swallow their anger over EU support for the independence of Kosovo, the Serb province which broke away in February, or turn their backs on the bid for EU membership, Tadic's top priority.
Tadic told supporters at his Democratic Party headquarters, "Serbs have undoubtedly confirmed a clear European path for Serbia." The idea that a nationalist-led government could still take power was unacceptable, he said.
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