Serb Vote Annulment Challenged

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica’s party vowed to challenge the annulment of the Serbian presidential elections, claiming Monday that voter lists were inflated with the names of dead or nonexistent people.

The state electoral commission said Sunday’s election will have to be repeated because the turnout was 45.5%, falling short of the required 50% minimum.

Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, won 67% of the vote in Sunday’s election, more than twice as much as Miroljub Labus, a pro-Western deputy prime minister and an ally of Kostunica’s main rival, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, according to the official count.

The commission said Serbs will have to vote again by Dec. 5, and the new election will be open to all candidates, including ultranationalist allies of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who is now on trial for war crimes.