VOTER BOYCOTT BLAMED FOR FAILURE OF SERBIAN PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

BELGRADE, Nov 17 (Hina) - A turnout of 38.6 percent at Sunday's presidential elections in Serbia is the lowest ever and is the result of Democratic Party of Serbia leader Vojislav Kostunica's and G17 Plus party leader Miroljub Labus' call for a boycott, the spokesman for the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), Marko Blagojevic, said at a news conference in Belgrade on Sunday evening. #L# Zoran Lutovac, a member of the electoral headquarters of Serbia's ruling DOS coalition's candidate Dragoljub Micunovic, who won around 35 percent of the vote against Serb Radical Party candidate Tomislav Nikolic's 47 percent, said it had been obvious that the success of the Radicals would be bigger if the turnout was lower. Serbian Vice Premier Zarko Korac said the election result was tragic for Serbia. "We are entering a dangerous, dramatic phase of our future," he said. Political analyst Vladimir Goati said at the press conference at the CeSID that the Radicals' success sent a clear message to the reformist forces ahead of the 28 December parliamentary elections. The Radicals are the key party of the former regime which now has a strong leader and Nikolic's election result will be a strong encouragement for the Serb Radical Party in the upcoming parliamentary elections, he said. Zoran Lucic of CeSID recalled last year's failed presidential elections, when the then Radical candidate Vojislav Seselj won 1,063,000 votes, much less than Nikolic this year. Srdjan Bogosavljevic of the "Strategic marketing" agency said the victory of the Radicals posed a serious threat to the entire democratic bloc and showed that they had the potential to become the strongest party in the country. (hina) rml