Serbia haunted by Milosevic's ghost

Serbs see Kosovo as the heart of their ancient homeland and Serbian Orthodox faith, and their bitterness has nudged the country toward ultranationalists promising to restore bruised national pride.

The nationalists also have exploited disenchantment with 30 percent unemployment, rising prices and corruption.

Under dictator Josip Broz Tito, who died in 1980, many Serbs had enough extra cash to travel the world. Today, most struggle mightily just to make ends meet on a monthly salary that averages just euro450 ($690).

Tadic, who opposes Kosovo's independence but wants to steer Serbia toward the European Union, has received death threats. He also has been publicly denounced as a traitor for signing a pre-entry aid and trade pact with the EU -a deal that Kostunica and Nikolic contend amounts to blood money in exchange for giving up Kosovo.

Nikolic, meanwhile, has basked in a growing sense that his day has come.

Over the past five years, the Radicals have steadily gained power and influence in Serbia. In the last three elections, they won a majority in the 250-seat parliament, but were unable to govern without the support of Kostunica's bloc.

It remains unclear exactly what combination of parties will join forces to form a government -but a Kostunica-Nikolic alliance has become increasingly likely.

"It would be a nightmare for the West," said Grubacic, the political analyst. "But you have to integrate these Radical voters into the political system. If you want to get rid of Radicals and that mentality, you have to give them a chance to show they're bad."

Both Kostunica and Nikolic have said Serbia should shelve its proclaimed goal of joining the EU, and concentrate instead on establishing close political and economic ties with Russia.

Some Serbs are understandably skittish about the possibility that their country could revert to nationalist or even ultranationalist rule and slide deeper into instability and isolation.