The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the strongest in Serbia's coalition government, kept its popularity in March, indicating it could win any snap election, Reuters quted an opinion poll published on Friday as indicating. The poll conducted this month put support for the SNS, led by Vice-Premier Aleksandar Vucic, at 38.6 percent, well ahead of the 14.8 percent scored by its closest rival, the opposition Democratic Party, which lost power in an election in May. The SNS's coalition partner, an alliance of Prime Minister Ivica Dacic's Socialist Party of Serbia and its two small allies, came third with 13.6 percent, the survey showed. The third coalition partner, the pro-business United Regions of Serbia, gained the backing of 4.9 percent of those polled. The margin of error in the poll, conducted by Faktor Plus on a sample of 1,260 respondents from across Serbia, was 3 percent. Vucic, who is also defence minister and oversees the intelligence agencies, won a 71 percent personal approval rating, mainly because of his anti-corruption campaign. Serbia must root out rampant corruption and organised crime to secure a date for accession talks with the European Union. -- SPA 19:41 LOCAL TIME 16:41 GMT تغريد
