•  belgrade
• Tuesday, May 22, 2012
• Inter Press Service

Serbs awoke on Monday morning to a regime change. A close ballot in the presidential run-off Sunday spelled the end for incumbent Boris Tadic, who served two terms as head of the Democratic Party that toppled former dictator Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, as Serbs cast their votes for the populist Tomislav Nikolic, who begins his five-year term today.

Nikolic (60) heads the populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and his victory was described last night by analysts as 'a political earthquake', leaving swathes of the public in shock as the long-celebrated Democratic Party stepped down.

The Democrats began the process of ending Milosevic's bloody Balkan wars of the 1990s, which took more than 100,000 lives. But even a glorious past could not secure Tadic’s popularity against the wave of economic and political hardship that has gripped the country since the latter came to power in 2004, analysts say.

'The loss of presidency (for Tadic) came as a result of enormous dissatisfaction among the people, as the economic and social situation has (deteriorated) in the past years, with the President and his (ruling) party doing little to ease the burden,' analyst Ognjen Pribicevic told IPS. 'Besides, all these hardships are accompanied by growing accusations of corruption that is eating away at the substance of society,' he added.

Unemployment in Serbia has stood stubbornly at 24 percent for years now, the highest in decades, while Serbian tycoons from the grim 90s era have flourished under the new rulers, privatising hundreds of companies and then leading them into bankruptcy due to a lack of international investment, particularly since 2008.

Impoverished state coffers led to the decay of the health care system, education and social services. In an effort to improve the situation, Serbia began borrowing money and ended up with a foreign debt of 31 billion dollars for a nation of 7.3 million people.

The first sign of widespread dissatisfaction with Democrats came two weeks ago in the parliamentary elections and first round of presidential elections. Tadic's party obtained 23 percent of the votes, while Nikolic's Progressives came in as the single biggest party with 24 percent, unable, however, to form a coalition government.

The new Serbian government will be formalised next month, comprised of Tadic's Democrats, Socialists and a small Liberal-Democratic party. 'We'll have a cohabitation in the future, with a Progressive president and a government again headed by the Democrats,' analyst Misa Brkic told IPS. She believes this won't be a bad thing, with opposing sides acting as a system of checks and balances against one another.

© Inter Press Service (2012) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service