Loser spoils presidential election

last updated 8 January 2015

Belgrade, Yugoslavia

The republic of Serbia will have to hold its presidential election over again, because less than half the voters turned up this week for the runoff. In the first round of voting, nationalist Vojislav Kostunica took first place, and reformist Miroljub Labus came in second. Since neither won an outright majority, a runoff was scheduled. But the candidate who came in third, ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, called for a boycott of the runoff, and less than 50 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Under Serbian law, this means a whole new election must be called. So Seselj, a longtime ally of dictator Slobodan Milosevic, gets another crack in a new first round, to be held in early December.