Turnout may decide knife-edge Serbian election

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbs voted on Sunday in a knife-edge presidential election that could decide whether their country turns its back on the West in response to the imminent loss of the breakaway province of Kosovo.

The race between pro-Western President Boris Tadic and nationalist challenger Tomislav Nikolic is too close to call. Analysts say only a big turnout can counter the dedicated voters of Nikolic, who beat Tadic 40 percent to 35.4 two weeks ago.

Some 34 percent of the 6.7 million electorate had voted by 1300 GMT, slightly more than in the same period in the first round. The weather was clear and mild in most of the country.

Both men oppose Kosovo's independence drive. Nikolic wants Serbia to turn to Russia to punish the West for backing Kosovo's majority Albanians. Tadic is asking Serbs to swallow their pride and pursue European Union membership whatever happens.

"I voted for Tadic, not because he is the best candidate but because I don't want my grandchildren to lose another five years," said pensioner Radmila Milovanovic, a Belgrade voter.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) and close at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). First projections are due an hour later, but monitoring groups say they will be very cautious about calling the result.

Nikolic's Radical Party has consistently taken a third of the vote in all elections since the fall of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. It is tapping into anger over Kosovo, painful economic transition and widespread corruption.

"Without me Serbia has no future, it is a country in agony and decline," Nikolic said after voting.