Serbia's State Election Commission on Monday reported that based on returns from 99.34% of polling stations, Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won 49.55% of the vote in Serbia's presidential runoff on Sunday and that his rival Boris Tadic of the Demcoratic Party (DS) mustered 47.30%.
The turnout was 46.37% and there were 3.15% of invalid ballots.
The final results should be declared by 2000 hrs Thursday, May 24.
Carrying foreign officials' comments on the outcome of Sunday's vote, the Serbian media quoted the European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, Jelko Kacin, as telling the Turkish Anadolu news agency that "nothing terrible has happened" with Nikolic's victory as changes of positions were frequent in politics.
He warned against demonisation of any office-holders in any country, particularly of Nikolic.
When we speak of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we would like to see Nikolic visit first Sarajevo and then Banja Luka. Second, we would be glad to see him encouraging Serbs in the north of Kosovo to strengthen the Serb community in Kosovo, the Slovenian MEP said, among other things.
Austrian MEP Hannes Swoboda was quoted by the local media as saying that Nikolic's election was a serious blow to the European policy in the Balkans and to regional stability.
