Task ahead mutes Serbian opposition celebrations

The last vestiges of power held by Slobodan Milosevic and his Socialist party have been swept away, after a decisive victory by the opposition in Serbia.

Just three months after winning the federal Yugoslav poll and removing Mr Milosevic as president, the alliance of eighteen-parties from the Democratic Opposition has now captured a two thirds majority in elections to the Serbian parliament.

The Socialists took only fourteen per cent of the vote.

A senior member of the opposition, Slobodan Vukanovic, told the BBC the result marked the end of the dominance of socialist and nationalist parties in Serbian politics.

But he said with so many difficult tasks ahead, there was no time for celebration.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service