Belgrade - President Boris Tadic's Democrats and their
Socialist partners in Serbia's ruling coalition were due Tuesday to
tie up loose ends still dangling three months after elections by
appointing the Belgrade mayor.
Former foes, the Democratic Party (DS) and the late strongman
Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in June buried
their hatchets to form a pro-European Serbian government, but the
agreement remained elusive on the local level in Belgrade.
Instead, days after May 11 parliamentary and local polls in
Serbia, The Socialists announced a coalition to rule Belgrade with
the nationalist bloc, comprising the Serbian Radical Party and former
prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia.
The early deal was eventually overruled by the SPS leadership,
outraging the nationalists, who may attempt obstructing the city hall
by filibustering - as they did in the Serbian assembly, eventually
forcing a month-long recess of the legislature.
The break prevented Serbia from debating a pre-membership
agreement with the European Union and a crucial energy deal with
Russia.
For the Belgrade local government, the DS-SPS coalition won the
support of the small Liberal Democratic Party to secure the majority,
just two days ahead of a deadline which would have forced repeat
elections for the city hall.
The Liberals, who are not a part of the national government
coalition, would also remain an outside partner in municipal
authorities, and would in return take control over several big-budget
sectors in the Belgrade city government.
A high-ranking DS official, Dragan Djilas, was the only candidate
for the mayor in the debate scheduled to start late Tuesday morning.
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