Hardline nationalist Tomislav Nikolic has won the first round of Serbia's presidential elections.
Mr Nikolic took 39.6 per cent of the vote yesterday in a field of nine candidates, ahead of 35.5 per cent for pro-Western President Boris Tadic.
However, Mr Nikolic's Radical Party will have to face a run-off poll after neither front-runners won the 50 per cent necessary to win outright.
The 61 per cent turnout was the highest since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, and analysts said the turnout could be even higher in the February 3 run-off.
Both candidates oppose independence for the breakaway province of Kosovo, but Mr Nikolic is lukewarm towards EU membership and argues that Serbia can steer a middle course between the 27-member bloc and Russia.
However, Mr Tadic said Serbs must return to the polls in force on February 3rd "to show that Serbia is absolutely not giving up its European course, the path it started on in 2000".
Serbia was never a close ally of Russia in the days of the Soviet Union, but Moscow's backing for its bid to block the independence bid by Kosovo has reinvigorated feelings of Slavic brotherhood against the West.
To win the second round, the candidates must also attract third party votes with promises of higher living standards and jobs, as well as promising to keep Kosovo, which is heading for independence with Western support.
Mr Tadic strongly backs joining the EU, despite most EU members and Washington planning to recognise Kosovo - Serbia's historic heartland - as independent within months.