Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Ahtisaari's decision was useful and that it was a result of not only the election timetable, but also of the fact that there were dissonant views within the Contact Group on Kosovo's future status. Tadic also said that "artificial deadlines" would not contribute to settling the Kosovo issue or stabilising the situation in Serbia, which he said would fight against Kosovo's independence.
"Wherever there is a multiconfessional country, a country with a complex ethnic structure, or a country with a concentration of one ethnic group in a part of that country, requests could come up for secession and establishment of a new state," Tadic told Beta news agency.
Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica said in a statement that "the holding of elections in any free and democratic country is an internal matter of that country", and that Ahtisaari's mission "is not to think about elections in Serbia, but to ensure real talks about Kosovo, which have not taken place so far, as well as to help find a solution that will be in line with the UN Charter".
The president of the Coordinating Centre for Kosovo, Sanda Raskovic Ivic, said that Serbia had hoped for such a decision, which she said "offers a big chance for the continuation of direct negotiations to reach agreement at least on technical questions".
The Serbian Foreign Ministry said that Ahtisaari's decision had been expected and that the election result could not affect his draft proposal, but that it could have impact on the position of the Contact Group and the UN Security Council on Ahtisaari's proposal.
"If our citizens vote for a democratic government, it will be much harder for them to decide on an imposed solution for Kosovo's status against Serbia's will. A different election outcome would mean a great risk of being branded as an undemocratic country, and the consequences would be detrimental exclusively to Serbia and the Serb people in Kosovo," the ministry said in a statement.
The only dissenting voice was the secretary of the Serbian Radical Party, Aleksandar Vucic, who accused Tadic and Kostunica of making a deal with Ahtisaari because they expected an unfavourable solution to Kosovo's status.