Serbian voters hit coalition at ballot box

SERBIA’S ruling conservative coalition appears to have suffered a severe blow in local elections.

Two opposition groups - pro-Western Democrats and hard-line allies of former President Slobodan Milosevic - won most votes, according to early projections based on partial results from yesterday’s election.

Candidates endorsed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica lagged behind both the pro-Western Democratic Party and the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party in nearly all of Serbia’s 148 municipalities and four major cities.