Serbia in coalition scramble after ambivalent vote

BELGRADE, May 12 (Reuters) - Serbia's pro-European alliance was to start coalition talks with smaller parties on Monday to stave off a challenge from nationalist runners-up who say they too can form a government after Sunday's parliamentary election.

Monitors put the alliance led by the Democratic Party at 39 percent of the vote, ahead of the Radicals on 29 percent.

A rolling count by the state election commission put the Democrats at 36.7 percent and the Radical Party at 28.5 percent.

The election was fought on whether Serbs should swallow their anger over European Union support for the independence of Kosovo, the Serb province which seceded in February, or turn their backs on the bid for European Union membership.

The Democrats' leader, President Boris Tadic, told supporters: "Serbs have undoubtedly confirmed a clear European path. This is a great victory, but it's not over yet.

"I want us to be aware that we must form a new government as soon as possible."

The Radicals' leader, Tomislav Nikolic, said the Democrat claim of victory jumped the gun. There were "very clear possibilities of a coalition which does not include the Democratic Party", he said.

Nikolic said he would talk to the two parties that share the Radicals' ideology, the Democratic Party of Serbia led by outgoing nationalist premier Vojislav Kostunica and the Socialists of the late Slobodan Milosevic.

Either these three parties would form a coalition, he predicted, or: "Serbia will not have a government at all and we'll have to go to new elections".

Official results are due by Thursday night. Parliament must convene by mid-June and a government be formed by mid-September or the country must hold a new election.



EU APPLAUSE

The European Union welcomed the result and urged the quick formation of a government with a "clear European agenda".

"This means that Serbia will move forward ever faster to membership of the EU," said Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

The EU had made its preference clear before the vote, offering Belgrade a pre-membership pact and a visa facilitation deal that are implicitly conditioned on a Democrat win.

The main pro-EU parties campaigned as one and consolidated their votes in one bloc, slightly increasing their share of the vote over the last election in January 2007.

But they still made no great inroads into overall nationalist support, which remained at about 50 percent of the 6.7 million electorate, spread among three parties.

One of the Democrats' choices for a coalition would be a government with the small Liberal Democratic Party -- if it crosses the 5 percent threshold needed to enter parliament -- and minority parties.

An alternative would be an alliance with Milosevic's Socialists, who took 9 percent of the vote. Political sources said that, unlikely as it sounds, it was a favoured option because it would form a stronger coalition.

A coalition with Kostunica, Tadic's ally in the eight-month government that collapsed in March, was seen as unlikely.

Kostunica insists Kosovo is more important than eventual EU membership and has cited "unbridgeable differences" with Tadic over the country's future direction. However, he has yet to respond openly to the Radicals' overtures.

"The Socialists have the biggest coalition potential because they are acceptable to both Democrats and Radicals," wrote respected daily Politika, noting the Democrats had hinted at concessions that could woo that party to their camp.