Brussels, October 10, 2002. The presidential and parliamentary elections in Bosnia and the presidential elections in Serbia have seen an upsurge in the vote for nationalist and extremist parties. In Bosnia, Sulejman Tihic (SDA), Dragan Covic (HDZ) and Mirko Sarovic (SDS) have won, while in Serbia the outgoing President, the nationalist Kostunica, has obtained 31% and Seselj 23 % of votes.

Statement by Olivier Dupuis, Member of the European Parliament, Radical:

“The elections in Bosnia Herzegovina have seen a victory for the nationalist parties; seven years after the end of hostilities, Bosnia is still beset by ethnic and religious divisions, unfortunately consecrated by the "Dayton peace plan". The responsibility for this return to the past lies partly with the leaders of the SFOR, the "peace force" in Bosnia, and the governments of the EU, who have been unable or unwilling for seven years to arrest Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic and consign him to the Court in The Hague to answer the charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. In Serbia Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party and the head of the “White Eagles” paramilitary force at the time of the war in Croatia and Bosnia, will hold the balance in next Sunday’s ballot between Kostunica and Labus. The failure of the Court in The Hague to bring charges against Seselj has allowed him to continue to play an important role in the political life of Serbia, to the extent that he was indicated by Slobodan Milosevic as his chosen candidate. President Kostunica has praised the victory of the Serbian nationalists in Bosnia and has done everything he can to hinder the work of the International Criminal Court, and is now about to benefit from Seselj’s votes; I hope that the majority of the Serbian people, who had the courage two years ago to oust Milosevic, will go to the polling stations on Sunday to cast their votes for Labus, the only way to bring Serbia closer to Europe and also to jolt European leaders, who by continuing to exclude the Balkans from any prospect of EU membership are simply strengthening those who aim to benefit from the desperate situation of this region of Europe.”