BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Vojislav Kostunica won the first round of Serbia's first presidential elections since Slobodan Milosevic's ouster, and will face a pro-western candidate in a runoff, according to unofficial results.

Kostunica, currently Yugoslavia's president, had 31 per cent support in Sunday's election, followed by pro-western Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus with 28 per cent, the results said. Because neither appeared to get 50 per cent for an outright win, they will face each other in a runoff.

The unofficial results were released by the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, an independent watchdog group that had observers at all 8,615 polling stations and monitored the official count. The centre's results have proved reliable in the past.

Official results were not expected before Monday.

The surprise of Sunday's vote, however, was the third-place finish of Vojislav Seselj, an ultranationalist backed by Milosevic, whose showing is seen as an indication that Serbia, one of Yugoslavia's two republics, has not yet moved beyond the nationalism of the former Yugoslav strongman's tenure. He got 22 per cent.

"Seselj's showing was the biggest surprise," said Kostunica's top political adviser, Slobodan Samardzic.

Kostunica, 58, is losing his job as Yugoslavia's president next year under constitutional changes envisioned to transform the country into a loose union of its two republics, Serbia and Montenegro.

Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, is widely favoured to win over Labus in the final round to be held in two weeks. Analysts are worried, however, that the turnout could be less than the necessary 50 per cent in the runoff, which would annul the whole election and cause it to be repeated in two months.

Voters showed little interest in Sunday's vote, staying home _ and out of the rain _ in large numbers after a campaign that generated little enthusiasm.

Turnout was an estimated 55 per cent, one of the lowest since the multiparty system was introduced in 1990. Such a turnout favoured Seselj, who has a committed core of voters.

Seselj assumed the role of the spoiler early in the race _ relishing his role as the candidate who unashamedly embraced the nationalistic views that led Yugoslavia into the Balkan wars.

"Serbia is shifting to the right," said Dragoljub Djuricic, a well-known local musician and supporter of Labus. "I am not happy to see the route Serbia picked today."

Voters chose among 11 candidates promising to elevate Serbia from the political and economic morass after the Balkan wars and international isolation under Milosevic's rule.

Gone was the euphoria that accompanied the ballot for Yugoslavia's presidency that led to Milosevic's ouster in 2000 _ when turnout hit nearly 75 per cent. In its place was dismay over the lack of clear improvement in living standards promised by the post-Milosevic government.

Though the national currency, the dinar, has remained stable, buying power has eroded as prices climb and wages fail to keep pace. The monthly cost of feeding a family of four has risen from the equivalent of $150 to $400 US over the past two years, government figures show. The cost of electricity, heat and water has jumped by as much as nine times.

Among those trickling through to Belgrade's Polling Station 48 was Zagorka Butkovic, who considered it her duty to vote despite the damp day.

"I would have marched through snow if I had to," said the 70-year-old retiree, her lime green coat buttoned tight to her chin. "We are hoping for something better."

Fixing the troubled economy and safeguarding welfare benefits have been the key election issues in this Balkan country of 10 million.

Kostunica was the leading figure in the 2000 revolt, a moderate nationalist whose stodgy suits and reputation for honesty appealed to voters exhausted by the political manipulations of the Milosevic years.

Kostunica campaigned on a platform promising less radical economic reforms than those advocated by Labus, his main rival and a former ally.

But in his typical low-key style, he demurred when asked if he believed he might pull out a victory without a runoff.

"It would be more rational if everything was completed in one round," he said. "But we are not the most rational people in the world and, besides, there are 11 candidates."

Labus has spearheaded the country's efforts to negotiate loans and aid with the West, pushing for swift action to shut down aging factories and spur growth in the stagnating economy.

The 55-year-old economist is backed by Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who has a longstanding feud with Kostunica over the pace of reforms and the decision to hand over Milosevic to the UN war crimes court in The Hague.

"I believe we'll live better tomorrow," Labus said as he cast his ballot at a Belgrade school, "and that we will continue on our path toward the European Union."

Milosevic, from his detention cell in the Netherlands, has openly backed Seselj, his former coalition partner. Seselj leads the Serbian Radical Party.

Serbia's current president, Milan Milutinovic, could not run for re-election because he is wanted by the UN court on war-crimes charges related to the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.