Ultra-nationalists led by a jailed war crimes suspect have won the most votes in Serbia's election, ensuring a hard time for the feuding pro-Western reformers expected to form a government.
In a bitter blow for the politicians who toppled Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president in 2000, the hardline Radicals of ex-paramilitary leader Vojislav Seselj became the biggest party in parliament, initial results showed today.
The Socialists kept their place in parliament in yesterday's poll, with Milosevic as top candidate - even though like Seselj he is in U.N. custody accused of Balkan war crimes in the 1990s.
The main pro-reform parties, which split acrimoniously after overthrowing Milosevic, won a combined 42 percent of the ballot. The Radicals won nearly 28 percent and the Socialists seven.
While the nationalist camp has scant chance of forming a government, their stronger voice is expected to raise pressure on the authorities to defy Western demands such as the handover of suspects to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
"We will probably see a more nationalistic Serbia," one European diplomat said.
The Radicals more than trebled their seats in parliament, underlining how disappointed many Serbs are with Western-style economic and political change, political bickering and allegations of government corruption.
"It really became an election of discontent," the European envoy said. "The gloomy predictions came true."
The reformists have all refused to cooperate with hardline nationalists and could form a majority government with a monarchist alliance, which also sees itself in the reform camp.
But, given the divisions on key issues and bitter personal rivalries, analysts warn that any such coalition may struggle to revive stalled reforms in one of Europe's poorest countries, mired in recession and with a jobless rate of around 30 percent.
The reform camp suffered a crucial blow when Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was shot dead in March in a killing blamed on gangster bosses linked to Milosevic-era paramilitary police.
The coalition fell apart eight months later and elections were called about a year early.
Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said the result showed Serbs wanted to punish the government for failing to raise living standards faster in a country battered by years of international isolation under Milosevic.