Pro-western reformer Boris Tadic of the Democratic Party (DS) won Sunday's presidential election in Serbia, official results released by the Republic's Electoral Commission (RIK) showed.

Serbian nationalist Tomislav Nikolic of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) conceded defeat in a live TV broadcast and congratulated Tadic on winning the election.

According to the preliminary results from the RIK based on the 18 percent cast votes counted, Tadic won 52.67 percent of the vote while Nikolic won 45.97 percent.

The final results form the RIK are expected in 72 hours. The voter turnout was about 47.5 percent.

Sunday's presidential election is the fourth attempt to elect ahead of the republic.

Serbia has failed to elect a head of republic since former President Milan Milutinovic ended his term in late 2002 while all three previous elections had been nullified as the voter turnout failed to pass the required threshold of 50 percent of registered voters.

The Serbian parliament approved an amendment to the turnout requirement late February, removing the 50-percent turnout threshold that had scuppered previous elections.

Source: Xinhua