Centre for Free Elections and Democracy

Recently amplified anti-EU rhetoric by a number of Serbian government ministers could potentially affect public opinion about the EU, amid a deep division over Serbia's potential EU membership, experts say.

As Bosnia's election campaign begins in earnest, Milorad Dodik's own campaign to win the Serbian seat on the Bosnian presidency is receiving support from the government of nearby Serbia.

Serbia remains the only Balkan state which has not yet publicly congratulated its neighbour Macedonia and Greece on their signing on Sunday of a landmark agreement aimed at finally resolving their decades-long dispute over Macedonia's name.

Serbian officials have continued to hint that citizens will be given an opportunity to declare their views on any proposed settlement of the Kosovo issue.

Many believe a referendum is the most likely solution, as Serbia's constitution mentions Kosovo as part of the national territory.  

Last weekend's Belgrade elections left 20 of the competitors without seats in the capital's municipal assembly, among them the former ruling Democratic Party and the Serbian Radical Party, demonstrating that there is a crisis within the political opposition, experts told BIRN.

Serbian bookmakers rate Ivica Dacic, leader of the junior partner in the ruling coalition, as the most likely man to replace the current Prime Minister and soon-to-be President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, who won the presidential elections on April 2.

Dacic is the bookies' favourite by a wide advantage compared to the second-ranking Minister of Finance, Dusan Vujovic.  

Analysts giving instant reactions to Vucic's first-round poll win on Sunday suggested that his triumph puts the Progressive Party leader in an unprecedentedly strong position to take the country in his chosen direction for the next five years.

Bookmakers in Serbia say the odds are heavily in favour of the Prime Minister and head of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, winning the presidential election.

The chances of him winning outright in the first round are slightly lower than his chances of winning in the second round, however, they said.

Serbia's pro-western Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic won a resounding endorsement in the April 24 general election for his policy of pursuing European Union membership, securing four more years in power with a parliamentary majority. 

But he will have to contend with a resurgent ultra-nationalist opposition which rejects integration with the EU and demands closer ties with Russia. 

According to poll monitors from the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, CESID, the Serbian Progressive Party won 51 per cent of votes at the parliamentary elections on Sunday.