Serbian socialists, emerging as the kingmakers for the next government, have yet to decide which bloc to join as both nationalists and pro-Europeans have extended invitations.
Deputy leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Zarko Obradovic told local news network B92 that the party has still not reached an agreement with any party over forming a new government.
"Neither have we agreed with anyone at republic nor city level," said Obradovic.
A tripartite meeting between the SPS, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) headed by outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and Tomislav Nikolic's Serbian Radical Party (SRS) was scheduled for Wednesday.
"We worked well with Kostunica between 2004 and 2006, and it's logical that we should speak first to someone that we've worked well with," Obradovic said.
He denied having received an invitation for talks with the Democratic Party (DS), although rumor has it that the SPS and DS are on the verge of a coalition agreement.
The local newspaper Blic reported Wednesday that the agreement between the Coalition for a European Serbia and the SPS should be concluded by the end of May.
Citing sources who claimed to have attended talks between the two parties over the last two days, the paper said the deal is due to be announced right after publication of the final election results, the release of which has been postponed while the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) looks into objections lodged over the irregularity of voting in certain constituencies.
The paper said that agreements have also been reached with the Socialists over forming governments at local level.
The Democratic Party, meanwhile, confirmed the contact with SPS.
"There has been contact between DS and SPS, which will be formalized when both parties are ready to announce it to the media," DS official Dragoljub Micunovic said.
Micunovic said that there should be no problems within a coalition between the DS and SPS as far as their "manifestos" were concerned.
"The only possible problems could be surrounding the Hague Tribunal, but I think that the formulation of 'respecting international obligations' is acceptable to them," the DS official said.
The SPS, once led by the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic who died while on trial in The Hague war crimes tribunal, earlier called for an end to the persecution of Milosevic's family members. It was blamed for backing Milosevic in a series of wars in the 1990s.
In Brussels, the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana suggested Tuesday that the SPS is acceptable in the new government as long as a stable pro-European government is formed.
The SPS, with 20 seats in hand in the next parliament, has emerged as the kingmaker for the next government.
As any alliance which can muster a simple majority, i.e. 126 seats in the 250-seat parliament, can govern, both the pro-European bloc and the nationalists should count support from the SPS.
The SRS and DSS agreed to join forces for the setting up of the new government Tuesday. With 78 seats and 30 seats each in hand respectively, the alliance is short of the seats to be in a majority.
The pro-Western Coalition for a European Serbia, headed by President Boris Tadic, won 102 seats in Sunday's parliamentary elections. In addition to the 13 seats from pro-Western Liberal Democratic Party, it still needs support from the SPS to form a coalition government.
The elections were called when the fragile ruling coalition of Tadic's Democratic Party and the DSS collapsed in a row over ties with the European Union (EU) after most member states of the 27-nation bloc recognized Kosovo's independence.
The ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17, which has been recognized by some 40 countries, including the United States and most EU member states.
The nationalists, represented by the SRS and DSS, strongly opposed Kosovo's move and Serbia's further integration with the EU unless the Western nations retract their recognition of the breakaway Kosovo.
The pro-Western bloc, despite its opposition to Kosovo's independence, favors a speedy integration with the EU as it believes EU membership would strengthen Serbia in the fight to maintain Kosovo.
Source:Xinhua
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