Electoral roll

According to the final count by the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), there is a total of 6,749,688 registered voters who will cast their ballots in 8,682 polling stations. They will choose from 22 party and coalition lists with 3137 candidates.

Polls open at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT). The final results will be released at 8 p.m. on May 15, but preliminary results are expected within two hours.

Main contenders

Sunday's vote is seen as a showdown between nationalist and pro-Western forces over what course Serbia should take in the future, continuing with EU integration or pursuing closer ties with Russia.

The ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), the largest single party in the outgoing parliament, wants closer ties with Russia and strongly opposes the secession of Kosovo. It says not to object to Serbia's EU membership if western nations retract their recognition of the breakaway province.

The party's president is Vojislav Seselj who is on trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Its deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic, under the campaign slogan "Forward, Serbia," has put forward an economic program that is poor-oriented, thus garnered support from the ordinary who have suffered in the social transition.

The pro-western bloc, the coalition "For a European Serbia" is comprised of Democratic Party (DS), G17-Plus, Sandzak Democratic Party (SDP), Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and League of Vojvodina Social-Democrats (LSV).

The alliance led by Serbian President and Democratic Party leader Boris Tadic favors speedy integration with the EU, which was manifested by the signing of the pre-membership Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on April 29.

Equally opposed to the independence of Kosovo, it believes EU membership would strengthen Serbia in the fight to keep Kosovo.

The coalition propounds a foreign-investment-based economic norm, thus had support from the young and pro-western voters.

The coalition of Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS), gathered around caretaker Prime Minister and DSS leader Vojislav Kostunica favors close political and economic ties with Russia.

Under the campaign slogan of "Uphold Serbia," it strongly opposes Serbia's further integration into the EU because of the West backing of Kosovo's independence.

Kostunica, a nationalist who has turned increasingly hardline in the past years termed the signing of the SAA as an act of "treason" because it indirectly recognizes Kosovo's independence.

DSS together with SRS have vowed to annul the SAA as soon as the new parliament convenes.

Winning points

The nationalists are buoyed by the widespread anger over Western support for the independence of Kosovo which is viewed by Serbs as the cradle of their culture, history and Orthodox Christian religion.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17 and has been recognized by some 40 countries including the United States and most EU member states. Serbia and its traditional ally Russia oppose it.

As a latest boost for nationalists to forge closer ties with Russia, the government on Friday adopted both the SAA with the EU and an energy deal with Russian. The energy deal, signed by Belgrade and Moscow in January, proposes a strategic gas pipeline through Serbia and the sale of 51 percent of state-owned oil monopoly of NIS to Russian energy giant Gazprom.

On the other side, the pro-western forces could reap points by the signing of the SAA with the EU, although its implementation remains frozen until Serbia fulfills its obligation to hand over war crimes fugitives from the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, including wartime Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander Ratko Mladic.

A survey published by the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID) on Wednesday showed that the gap between SRS andDS has narrowed owing to the signing of the SAA. The survey found the percentage of pro-Europeans grew from 30 percent to 41 percent, while the number of anti-Europeans fell from 47 percent to 31 percent.

The pro-western bloc benefited from the signing of the SAA the next day when Italian carmaker Fiat signing a memorandum of understanding to buy Serbia's Zastava and invest 700 million euros in its plant.

Another push for the pro-western forces is a road map for visa regime liberalization which the EU offered to Serbia on Wednesday as a sign to make Serbia's European perspective concrete.

Sixteen EU member states plus Norway decided on Tuesday to abolish visa fees for most Serbians, as a first step to allow them visa-free entry later.

Prediction of the election results

Latest polls show the two top runners, SRS and coalition of pro-Western parties would each get around one third of the vote on Sunday's election, with SRS slightly ahead.

Since neither bloc can get the majority needed to form a government, the nationalist Kostunica, predicted to win about 12 percent of the vote, could once again be in a position of kingmaker.

But one thing is certain anyway, there is going to be a lot of bargaining before the next government is formed.