SERBIA: Serb leaders are imploring their people to vote 'yes' this weekend to a new constitution that declares Kosovo to be an inalienable part of Serbia, just as the UN appears likely to grant sovereignty to the province.
At least half of the 6.6 million voters must back the constitution for it to replace a charter that governed Yugoslavia, whose collapse over the last 16 years culminated in Montenegro breaking away from Belgrade this summer.
Although the status of Kosovo is the key issue in debate on the referendum, Belgrade left the region's ethnic Albanian majority off voter lists, knowing they would probably boycott the ballot and sharply reduce the chance of a 50 per cent turnout.
Analysts say Serb prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, who is derided by nationalists who call him a puppet of the West, wants to use the constitution to prove his patriotic credentials ahead of a general election that is expected in December.
"I call on all citizens of Serbia, whatever their religion or nationality, to vote for the new constitution for Kosovo, to express the unanimous will of the whole of Serbia that nobody can grab our territory and nobody can divide Serbia," Mr Kostunica said yesterday.
The UN is expected to grant Kosovo some form of independence in the coming months.