Serbia leader 'got death threats'

Mr Tadic has not officially confirmed the death threats

Serbia's President Boris Tadic is reported to have received death threats ahead of the first general election since Kosovo declared independence.

His pro-Western bloc is narrowly behind a coalition led by Serbia's hardline nationalist Radical Party, polls show.

Mr Tadic received a letter warning him that he risked getting "a bullet in the forehead", Serbian media report.

Serbs will head to the polls on Sunday in an early election called after the governing coalition split.

Serbia's Blic newspaper reported on Monday that Mr Tadic had received a letter accusing him of "treason".

Although his office has not confirmed that he received the threat, Mr Tadic has said that "there must be no lynching atmosphere in Serbia".

The state prosecutor's office issued a statement saying that "we are aware of the death threats President Tadic received," Reuters reported on Monday.

The state authorities had taken "all necessary measures to protect the president", it added.

Disputed EU links

His endorsement of a pre-membership agreement with the EU, signed last week, has further inflamed criticism from pro-Russian nationalists.

They argued the agreement should not have been signed without an acknowledgment by the EU bloc that Kosovo is part of Serbia.

Last week, posters appeared in Belgrade branding Mr Tadic and Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic as "enemies of the state", after Mr Djelic had signed the accord with the EU.

The latest polls in the country suggest that it will be a tight race between a coalition of pro-Western parties led by Mr Tadic and a nationalist bloc led by the Serbian Radical Party, formerly linked to the late President Slobodan Milosevic.

Polls suggest that neither bloc has enough support to gain the majority needed to form a government alone.

Outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia may prove crucial in forming a coalition, analysts say.

A split between Mr Tadic and Mr Kostunica over ties with the EU led to the early polls.