BELGRADE: MINORITIES MOSTLY ABSTAINED FROM VOTING

BELGRADE, Dec 9 (Hina) - Data collected by Belgrade's Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) indicate that 2,950,000 constituents (45.2 percent) voted in the repeated Serbian presidential election on Sunday. Members of national minorities had the least turnout. #L# The data show that national minority members mostly abstained, seen as a handful of them voted at polling stations in Vojvodina, where members of national minorities reside, and Sandzak, where every fifth listed voter arrived at polling stations. According to the CESID's estimates, about 1,700,000 (57.5 percent) of voters came to the polls. Radical leader Vojislav Seselj won 1,070,000 (36.3 percent) of votes, winning 200,000 votes more than in the previous unsuccessful election. A candidate of the Serb Unity Party, Borislav Pelevic, won the support of 105,000 (3.6 percent) voters. Kostunica yielded the worst results in Kosovo where he won 15,000 (39.1 percent) of votes, while Seselj had the best result with 23,000 or 57.6 percent of the total votes. The CESID reported that Kostunica had won 400,000 votes more than in the first round of the previous election, because a part of the constituency who supported a federal vice-premier, Miroljub Labus (who then won a million votes), voted for Kostunica. Seselj also won more votes, thanks to the votes of members of the Socialist Party of Serbia and Slobodan Milosevic's support to him. (hina) lml sb