Serbia’s rival pro-Western and nationalist camps each positioned themselves to begin talks on forming a new government yesterday after parliamentary elections left the Balkan nation sharply divided.
A nationalist challenge cast a shadow over pro-Western Serbian President Boris Tadic’s claim of victory in Sunday’s vote. The showdown reflected deep divisions among Serbs torn over whether to join the EU or shift toward their traditional ally, Russia, and revert to their nationalist past.
Tadic proclaimed “a great day for Serbia” after projections by an independent monitoring group and partial results from the state electoral commission gave his Coalition for a European Serbia a 10 percent lead over the ultra-nationalist Radical Party.
But he told supporters early yesterday in central Belgrade: “You should celebrate, but I must go and negotiate.”
“Those will be tough negotiations,” Tadic said.
His nationalist opponents, meanwhile, sought to team up and form a government despite the pro-Western camp’s clear lead.
“There is a clear chance that a government will be formed that will not include Tadic’s party,” ultra-nationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic said.
Nikolic said he would meet yesterday with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s conservative coalition and with the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialists, whose support looked to be decisive.
Any alliance that can muster a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-seat parliament can govern. Although Tadic’s coalition appeared assured of 103 seats, Nikolic’s Radicals were poised to get 76. If they joined forces with Kostunica’s bloc and the Socialists, their combined strength would be 127 seats.
Nikolic also accused Tadic of inciting violence by proclaiming victory. But Tadic made clear he saw the outcome as a mandate to take the country into the EU.
He warned his opponents “not to tamper with the will of the people” and pledged to prevent the formation of a nationalist government.
Tadic was also expected to court the Socialists and their 21 seats.
The EU called the success of Tadic’s coalition a “clear victory” by pro-European forces.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat