Serbia president dissolves parliament in wake of Kosovo independence

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Serbian president dissolved the parliament Thursday and called early elections following his rift with nationalists over Kosovo's independence and Serbia's European Union integration. President Boris Tadic said the vote would be held May 11. "Elections are a democratic way for the citizens to determine how Serbia should develop in the years to come," Tadic said in a statement. He said elections offered a "new chance to strengthen ... the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, to strengthen our economic perspective through European integration ... and change things for the better." The vote is considered crucial for Serbia because it will determine whether the Balkan country heads toward the EU and other Western groups, or returns to its isolationist past of the 1990s era of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic.