Serbia’s voters have the chance to decide their troubled country’s future after President Boris Tadic called early elections on Thursday.

When they vote on May 11, with the Kosovo crisis heavy on their hearts, they will have to choose between two very different outlooks. Mr Tadic’s Democrats and their allies will pledge to fight for rapid European Union integration, working around the Kosovo issue rather than confronting it head on. Prime minister Vojislav Kostunica’s conservatives and the nationalist Radical party will insist on no compromises. To avoid being cast as a traitor, Mr Tadic muddies the waters by claiming he can secure both EU integration and Kosovo. But most voters are not fooled: they know the choice they face.