Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat in Serbia's snap parliamentary election, handing victory to the student-led protest movement that has spent almost two years marching against his rule — the greatest defeat of his political career.
"We still do not have final results, on the basis of a sample... it is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won, they will have between 135 and 140 seats and we will have 105, no one else has entered parliament," Vučić said on Sunday evening.
The result is a political earthquake in the Balkans. Vučić, who has dominated Serbian politics since becoming prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017, called the snap election himself in September — and lost it to a movement led by university students and largely unknown candidates.
From a collapsed canopy to a government
The student movement was born in tragedy. In November 2024, a concrete canopy collapsed at the newly renovated train station in Novi Sad, killing 16 people. Students blamed corruption and shoddy state-run construction — and took to the streets demanding accountability.
The protests never stopped. For almost two years, students marched against what they called creeping authoritarianism and graft, drawing support far beyond university campuses until they became the greatest threat Vučić had faced in more than a decade.
Their electoral vehicle, the Students' List, fielded 250 candidates — university professors, actors, farmers and students — led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanović. "I hope that today will pass in a democratic atmosphere, in peace, and that we will legitimately elect a new government in Serbia," Srdanović said after casting his vote in Novi Sad, adding that the scenes suggested a record voter turnout.
The polls got it wrong
The scale of the defeat surprised even the polls. An Ipsos survey published on Thursday had Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leading with 47% of the vote against 40% for the students — though other polls had put the students in front.
Vučić had resigned from his second term as president to run to be prime minister again, staking his political future on the snap vote. After casting his own ballot, he said Serbia would choose its direction on Sunday: "If we lose we will acknowledge the will of the electorate, if we win no one will take it (from us)."
He kept that promise within hours of the polls closing — conceding before the final count, on the basis of a sample showing his party beaten by a clear margin in the 250-seat parliament.
What comes next
With 135 to 140 seats, the Student List holds an outright majority — and no other party cleared the 3% threshold to enter parliament, according to Vučić's own figures. The students now face the task of turning a protest movement into a government, with an agenda centred on rooting out corruption and improving schools, though they have said little about their foreign policy plans.
For Serbia's neighbours and for Europe, the question is what the new government does with Vučić's balancing act: closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia's traditional ally and principal gas supplier, while keeping the door open to European Union membership despite a stalled accession campaign.
Why it matters
A movement that began with students demanding justice for 16 people killed in a station collapse has now removed from power the man who dominated Serbia for twelve years — in an election he called himself. As actress Jelena Stupljanin, 48, put it at a Belgrade polling station: "For decades the people have been waiting for this time, something to bring hope that we can live freely and by the rules of democracy."
Reporting based on Reuters.