Serbia's tightly-contested presidential run-off closed on Sunday evening with a higher turnout, which is seen by analysts as a referendum on the Balkan country's future between pro-Western incumbent President Boris Tadic and his pro-Russian rival Tomislav Nikolic.
"I am totally sure we are going to take the same direction toward Europe after these elections," the silver-haired Tadic said after casting his ballot while Nikolic said, "We expect big changes in Serbia."
The polling stations in Serbia were closed at 8 p.m. (1900GMT) after 13-hour voting, and the country's electoral commission said that 57.8 percent of some 6.72 million voters had turned out by 6 p.m. (1700GMT) more than 4 percentages higher than the first round on Jan. 20 at the same time.
The Center for Free and Democratic Elections (CeSID), a local leading pollster, estimated that 67 percent or 4.4 million voters voted in the presidential runoff.
"A turnout this high shows that the electorate in Serbia is deeply polarized," CeSID executive director Zoran Lucic said.
The elections were monitored by over 2,000 representatives of CeSID, as well as 40 foreign observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, the Russian parliament, and the U.S. and British embassies.
The Serbian electoral commission is expected to announce the official election results by 8 p.m. on Thursday at the latest.
In the first round of election on Jan. 20, Nikolic won 39.99 percent of votes while Tadic won 35.39 percent of votes from a record turnout of 61 percent, according to the final results released by the electoral commission.
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article