The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Belgrade

Serbia's pro-Western president, Boris Tadic, won a narrow re-election victory Sunday over nationalist Tomislav Nikolic in a run-off poll shadowed by concerns over Kosovo's looming independence.

In a result likely to nudge Serbia closer to integration with the European Union, despite widespread public anger with EU support for Kosovo's breakaway stance, the electoral commission gave Tadic 50.6 percent of the vote against 47.8 percent for Nikolic, who favours tighter links with Russia. Conceding defeat, Nikolic, a former ally of late nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic, called on Europe to "stop blackmailing" Belgrade. "We are ready to be within the EU, but there are some conditions we cannot fulfill," he said, referring to pressure on Serbia to accept an expected announcement of unilateral independence by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.