"Nobody wants to see individuals trying to whip up nationalism in destructive ways. That doesn't help Serbia. That doesn't help this process move forward and to help build a more stable Balkan region," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a press briefing on Tuesday when asked to comment on Nikolic's election.
He said that the State Department viewed the language used in the parliamentary debate that preceded Nikolic's election as "complicating some of the diplomacy out there." He was referring to ongoing international efforts to resolve the status of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.
McCormack expressed hope that emotions would cool and the rhetoric would be toned down and that parliamentarian and Serbian leaders would "focus on how to better integrate Serbia into the rest of the world, into Europe, as well as to help build a more stable Balkan region."
On Tuesday morning, after 15 hours of debate, the 250-member Serbian Assembly elected Nikolic as speaker with 142 votes in favour and 99 against.