Serbia votes in early parliamentary election

BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbs voted in a parliamentary election Sunday that is expected to make the country's new prime minister a former hard-line, pro-Russian nationalist but who is now a pro-European Union advocate.

Aleksandar Vucic, a former ally of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, is the leader of the populist Serbian Progressive Party, which has pledged to fight corruption and revive the economy in the troubled Balkan nation.

Pre-election polls predicted his party would win a majority in Serbia's 250-member parliament, which would allow it to choose him as prime minister.

The Socialists, whose leader Ivica Dacic is the prime minister in the outgoing government, were trailing second in the polls.

The election comes as Serbia, a longtime international pariah for fomenting wars in the Balkans in the 1990s, is officially seeking entry into the EU, amid deep economic problems and simmering social discontent because of plunging living standards.

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