Pro-West reformer wins Serbian presidential election

A PRO-WESTERN reformer won Serbia’s presidential run-off vote last night, defeating a hard-line nationalist ally of former autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, an independent election monitoring group said.

Boris Tadic received 53.5% of the vote, while Tomislav Nikolic got 45.1%, according to independent monitors from Belgrade's CeSID group. Turnout was 48.5%.

The presidential vote was crucial to whether Serbia moves closer to the European Union and NATO or sinks back into the nationalist isolation reminiscent of Mr Milosevic's autocratic regime.