Serbian Progressive Party Leader Tomislav Nikolic won the Serbia’s Presidential Election

The Serbian Progressive Party leader Tomislav Nikolic won the Serbia’s presidential election on 20 May 2012. Nikolic beat his centrist opponent, the incumbent Boris Tadic in a closely contested election. Nikolic accounted for 50.21% of the total vote, against 46.77% for Tadic, with 40% of votes counted.

Nikolic, during his previous stints in power worked as a deputy prime minister under the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who was put on trial for genocide at The Hague. He was also the part of the government when Nato forces attacked Serbia in 1999. Nikolic, an ultra-nationalist, has widely been considered as anti-European Union given his vocal opposition of the bloc. He, however, in a bid to recapture the power toned down his antipathy towards the European Union and vowed to not deviate from its European path, after winning the elections.

Serbia, located at the intersections between Central and Southern Europe, became a separate sovereign republic in summer 2006 after Montenegro voted in a referendum for independence from the Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The country has its unemployment rate spiraling high at 24%. The total foreign debt of the country is also piling up as the current figure stands at 24 billion euro.