Low turn-out renders election invalid

Serbia’s first presidential elections since Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power failed today because of low turnout that invalidated the entire process, independent vote monitors said.

Widespread voter apathy – triggered by the slow pace of reforms, quarrelling between pro-democracy leaders who ousted Milosevic and low living standards - produced a turn-out of 45.5%, according to the independent Centre for Free Elections and Democracy.

The legal minimum for valid elections was 50%.

“Definitely, there is no possibility that these elections succeeded,” said Zoran Lucic, a spokesman for the group. ”We have not reached our goal at these elections and we did not elect a president.”

Lucic said exit polls showed that Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica won 66.7% of the votes, and that deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus had 31.3%. But with today’s vote invalid, Serbs will have to re-launch the election process by January 5, 2003.

Official turn-out figures and results were not expected before tomorrow.

In 1997, a vote for the Serbian presidency failed because of low turn-out. A new round of voting the same year led to the election of Milan Milutinovic, the current Serbian president and a former Milosevic ally.

Milutinovic is also wanted by the UN tribunal for alleged war crimes in Kosovo.

Kostunica today criticised the Milosevic-era election law that requires large turn-outs and two rounds of voting, calling it “irrational”.

Kostunica has repeatedly said that a failure to elect the Serbian president would inflict “instability, tensions and chaos” on the republic and jeopardise unfinished reforms.

Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, finished first in the first round of the elections on September 29, but failed to get a majority needed for outright victory.

Turn-out was 55% in the first round, but Milosevic’s allies – including ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj – who failed to make it to the run-off urged their supporters to boycott the vote.

“It’s a pity that these elections did not succeed,” said Slobodan Samardzic, an adviser to Kostunica, blaming the outcome on the “outdated” election law that requires a high turnout.

Serbs had plenty of reasons to stay home – many in Serbia had hoped for a faster improvement in living standards after Milosevic. Average salaries have gone up, but have barely kept pace with soaring prices despite the relative stability of the national currency, the dinar. Unemployment stands at a staggering 40%.

Kostunica will lose his current job when the post of Yugoslav president disappears later this year.

Under an EU-supported plan, a new country is to be formed that turns the republics, Serbia and Montenegro, into a loose union.