Street celebrations, Tadic joins party in centre of capital

(3 Feb 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Various of supporters of Boris Tadic lighting flares to celebrate his victory in Serbia's presidential elections
2. Tilt down from flares to group of supporters
3. Woman waving Democratic Party flag
4. Two boys holding European Flag and poster of Tadic
5. Various of Tadic supporters holding Serbian and Democratic Party flags singing and dancing in celebration
6. Wide of Tadic supporters holding Democratic Party flags
7. Woman holding Tadic poster
8. Group of men chanting and dancing
9. Man holding flare
10. Mid of child
11. Various of girls celebrating
12. Group of Tadic supporters
13. Various of Tadic arriving, greeting supporters
14. Cutaway of crowd, UPSOUND of crowd chanting: (Serbian) "Boris"
15. Mid of Tadic standing on podium, arms outstretched, UPSOUND of cheering crowd
STORYLINE
Pro-Western incumbent Boris Tadic won Serbia's presidential election on Sunday, edging an ultranationalist ally of former President Slobodan Milosevic by a narrow margin.
The state electoral commission and independent vote monitors said that Tadic won about 51 percent, while extreme nationalist Tomislav Nikolic had 47 percent in the closely contested race.
The remaining ballots were invalid.
Tadic's supporters, waving Serbian, EU and Democratic Party flags and honking car horns, celebrated his victory with fireworks.
Tadic's Democratic Party played a key role in the ouster of Milosevic in 2000.
The soft-spoken party leader first became the president in 2004, beating Nikolic in another runoff election.
Nikolic, deputy leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, served as a deputy prime minister during Milosevic's 1998-99 war in Kosovo, when NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to stop his brutal crackdown against the province's separatists.
The province has been run by the United Nations and NATO since the war.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders said they would declare independence days after the Serbian runoff, no matter who wins, and they expect the US and most EU countries to follow up with quick recognition.
The outcome of Sunday's runoff indicated that a majority in Serbia wants to continue on its path of pro-Western reform and closer ties with the European Union, instead of heading back to nationalism and isolation.
Mladjan Dinkic, the leader of the pro-Western G17 Plus party allied with Tadic, said the victory gave Tadic legitimacy to lead the country toward the EU.
Nikolic's defeat indicated that Serbians had opted for closer ties with the West instead of getting closer to Russia, which was advocated by the ultranationalist candidate.
The outcome also will alleviate fears in the West that Serbia will react violently to the expected declaration of independence from Kosovo.
Both Tadic and Nikolic oppose Kosovo's independence, but Tadic has ruled out the use of force and would likely seek to preserve close ties with the EU and the United States even if they recognise Kosovo statehood.
While pledging never to recognise Kosovo independence, Tadic has said there is "no alternative" to EU membership for Serbia and that it is "the only way forward" for the nation.

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