The first day of Serbia's two-day constitutional referendum closed Saturday with turnout of 17.81 per cent, according to the official electoral committee's preliminary results, reported dpa. The turnout was fairly low, despite calls from politicians across the political spectrum for participation in the "election of destiny." Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, urging his countrymen to vote, said that Serbia would have a constitution built on democratic foundations for the first time since World War II. President Boris Tadic said that the draft constitution posed a clear break with the past under the former Yugoslav federation strongman, the late Slobodan Milosevic. More than half of the 6.63 million registered voters need to back the draft for it to become Serbia's new constitution. To boost attendance and improve the odds of getting approval from 50 per cent of the electorate, the referendum was scheduled for two days, with polling stations open Saturday and Sunday for a total of 26 hours.
