SERBIA’S nationalists brushed aside their pro-Western rivals’ claim of victory in parliamentary elections and held talks yesterday to see if they could muster support from other parties to form a government.

Sunday’s vote left the Balkan nation sharply split, though President Boris Tadic portrayed his coalition’s clear lead as a sign that Serbs back his efforts to bring the country into the European Union.

The showdown reflected deep divisions among Serbs torn over whether to join the European Union — or to shift toward their traditional ally, Russia, and revert to their nationalist past.

Tadic proclaimed “a great day for Serbia” after projections by an independent monitoring group and partial results from the state electoral commission gave his Coalition for a European Serbia a 10 percentage-point lead over the nationalist Radical Party.

But he told supporters early yesterday in central Belgrade: “You should celebrate, but I must go and negotiate.”

“Those will be tough negotiations,” Tadic said.

His nationalist opponents, meanwhile, sought to team up and form a government to overcome the pro-Western camp’s lead in the vote tally.

Far-right leader Tomislav Nikolic of the Radical Party met with outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a nationalist, to see if, together, they can form a government.

Any alliance that can muster a simple 126-seat majority in the 250-seat parliament can govern. Although Tadic’s coalition appeared assured of 103 seats, Nikolic’s Radicals were poised to get 76. If they join forces with outgoing Kostunica’s bloc and the Socialists, their combined strength would be 127 seats.

Kostunica’s spokesman, Andreja Mladenovic, said the prime minister would also hold talks in the coming days with other parties, including late President Slobodan Milosevic’s Socialist Party, whose support looked to be decisive for either camp.

Nikolic accused Tadic of inciting violence by proclaiming victory.

Tadic warned his opponents “not to tamper with the will of the people” and pledged to prevent the formation of a nationalist government.

Tadic is also expected to court the Socialists and their 21 seats.

The European Union called the success of Tadic’s coalition a “clear victory” by pro-European forces. The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade said in a statement that “the Serbian electorate has clearly demonstrated that its heart is in Europe.”

The Center for Free Elections and Democracy said Tadic’s bloc had 39 percent. It said the Radicals ran a distant second with 28.6 percent, and Kostunica’s bloc had about 11.6 percent. The Socialists had about 8.2 percent. (SD-Agencies)