Nationalists take over Serbia

last updated 8 January 2015

Belgrade

Serbia’s first election since Slobodan Milosevic’s party was thrown out of power, three years ago, has ended in victory for the extreme nationalists. The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party became the largest group in parliament, winning 82 of the 250 seats—despite the fact that the party’s head, former paramilitary leader Vojislav Seselj, is awaiting trial in The Hague on charges of war crimes. Milosevic’s party, which also has a nationalist bent, took 22 seats, even though the former dictator is also on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. The extremists’ win is a blow to pro-democracy Serbs, some of whom are blaming the international tribunal in The Hague. If Milosevic and Seselj had been tried at home in Serbia, they say, the two men would not have been able to portray themselves as persecuted by foreigners. The ultranationalists do not apologize for the ethnic cleansing of the 1990s and support a “Greater Serbia” populated only by Serbs.