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English
Serbia votes in make-or-break elections
 Belgrade, May 11 (MIA) - Serbia votes Sunday in general elections seen as a referendum giving its people a stark choice between entering or abandoning the European Union over Kosovo's independence.
Going into the polls, the ultra-nationalist Radical Party was credited with voter support of 34 percent, one point ahead of a pro-European alliance gathered around President Boris Tadic, according to the latest survey.
The elections are seen as the most important in the eight years since democratic forces overthrew late autocratic president Slobodan Milosevic, whose regime the Radicals supported.
They were called in March after the year-old government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica collapsed in a rift over ties with the European Union after most EU nations recognised Kosovo's independence.
In a spiteful campaign, pro-Western leaders like Tadic and his ally Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic have been branded "traitors" and "enemies of the state" after signing a pre-membership accord with the European Union.
Polling stations open at more than 8,600 locations across the Balkan country -- as well as 295 places in Kosovo -- at 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and remain open for 13 hours.
Early indications of the outcome are expected at around 9:30 pm (1930 GMT).
A total of 6,865,400 people are eligible to vote including more than 115,000 Serbs scattered across Kosovo, the tense Albanian-majority province which broke away from Serbia almost three months ago.
The parliamentary and local elections will be held in Kosovo despite opposition from the United Nations and Kosovo Albanians, who see the local polls as an attempt by Serbia to partition the breakaway territory.
The parliament of Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanians make up around 90 percent of its 1.8 million population, unilaterally declared independence on February 17.
Kosovo has been recognised by about 40 countries led by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan and most of the 27-nation European Union, fuelling anti-Western anger, protests and violence in Serbia.
That anger has bolstered hardliners who want stronger ties with Russia, China, Arab and African nations instead of countries that have helped to carve off what most Serbs consider their medieval heartland.
For years the strongest single force in Serbia's 250-seat parliament, the Radicals are again likely to remain short of an outright majority following Sunday's elections.
However this time they appeared set to form a coalition government with Kostunica's nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).
Kostunica's defeat of Milosevic at the ballot box in 2000 presidential elections eventually led to the popular uprising that ousted the Serbian strongman.
But the stoney-faced DSS leader, a constitutional lawyer, has since become increasingly nationalistic in his rhetoric, particularly since Kosovo proclaimed its statehood.
The pro-Europeans headed by Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) may have gained a few popularity points after signing the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
They mounted a confusing campaign, however, struggling to spell out the benefits of EU integration and fend off Kostunica's accusations that by signing it, they indirectly signed away Kosovo.
Whichever party wins the race, it will need to form a coalition with at least one other party, including the Socialists founded by Milosevic and the Liberal Democrats whose leader Cedomir Jovanovic negotiated his arrest in 2001.
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