The two leading candidates are Kostunica and Miroljub Labus, a former professor of Marxist economy who recruited a cadre of expatriate Serbs to return to help build the country's economy when [Slobodan Milosevic] fell. Labus is generally viewed as the candidate who would most aggressively push the economic reforms that would help the country attract investment and create jobs.

"Labus is seen as connected with [Zoran Djindjic]. He's not a powerful person himself, so if he wins, Djindjic can eat him in five minutes," said Branko Pavlovic, a deputy in the Serbian parliament who once supported Djindjic's coalition but has since become disillusioned.

"When Kostunica says The Hague is biased against Serbs, everybody likes that because they feel The Hague is biased and most of them don't know any war criminals personally. So they feel Kostunica is sharing their feelings," said Srdjan Bogosavljevic, who runs Strategic Marketing and Media Research, a polling firm in Belgrade, the Yugoslav and Serbian capital.