Supporters of the Yugoslav President, Mr Vojislav Kostunica, overcame a major hurdle yesterday when Serbia's parliament approved an interim government to run the republic until December elections.
A long-delayed vote to install the power-sharing government, made up of allies and foes of ousted Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, was finally carried by a margin of 133 to 1.
But 83 deputies of the hardline Serbian Radical Party, packed with ultra-nationalist Milosevic loyalists, walked out of the 250member assembly, condemning the new government as the result of a "putsch".
The interim administration is expected to rule Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic, until elections on December 23rd.
Mr Milomir Minic, a senior member of Mr Milosevic's Socialist party, was sworn in as Prime Minister.
Earlier, Mr Minic told parliament that Serbia found itself in an extremely difficult situation in the wake of the October 5th uprising that swept Mr Kostunica to the largely ceremonial Yugoslav presidency.
"A wave of violence and lawlessness has spread over Serbia. When the government and security forces are not able to secure peace and respect of constitution and law, the only solution is a political solution," Mr Minic said.
Mr Milosevic's Socialists, still the strongest party in the Serb parliament, agreed last week to share power until the elections with the pro-reform Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), which backed Mr Kostunica in his successful bid to become Yugoslav President.