War crimes suspect's wife promises to halt Serbia's EU path

(BELGRADE) - The wife of Serbian ultra-nationalist Vojislav Seselj, who is awaiting a verdict in his war crimes trial, vowed Thursday she would halt her country's bid to join the EU if elected president this weekend.

"I will fight to stop the process of Serbia's integration into the European Union" as it would mean "abandoning Kosovo," said Jadranka Seselj at her Serbian Radical Party's (SRS) final rally.

Kosovo proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, a move that Belgrade has vehemently rejected, although Pristina's independence has been accepted by most of Europe as well as the United States and many other countries.

Some 3,000 SRS supporters gathered in central Belgrade for the rally, chanting Vojislav Seselj's name, applauding as footages depicting the man was broadcast on a large screen while others waved Serbian flags and placards "Seselj, Serbian hero!"

Seselj, who still heads the party, is awaiting a verdict from the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) following a trial for crimes committed during the Croatia and Bosnia wars in the 1990s.

Serbia is to hold both parliamentary and presidential elections on May 6.

Seselj's party, once the main opposition force, has been largely weakened after its deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic quit to form his own Serbian Progressive Party, taking along with him most of the SRS supporters.

According to the surveys, the SRS could pass a obligatory five-percent threshold to get seats in parliament, while Jadranka Seselj could count on 3.1 percent in the presidential race.