Aleksandar Vučić, the long-serving leader of Serbia, has conceded defeat in Sunday’s parliamentary election, bringing an end to his 12-year reign. The outcome represents a monumental political shift for the Balkan country, where the increasingly authoritarian leader faced off against a grassroots movement spearheaded by students who led anti-government protests for two years. Opinion polls had varied wildly, with analysts pointing to the high degree of uncertainty at play as the candidates representing the grassroots student movement went up against Vučić’s SNS, in the lead-up to the vote.
Speaking from his party headquarters in Belgrade, Vučić addressed supporters to acknowledge the loss based on preliminary samples, even as official final results remained pending. He stated that the Student List had secured victory, estimating they would take between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament while his party would hold 105. Potentially giving them a majority in the country’s 250-seat parliament, vučić pointed to preliminary results that suggested that voters had overwhelmingly backed the students.
Projections from election pollsters CeSID and Ipsos supported the outcome, estimating that the Students’ List candidate slate would claim 138 deputies. Vučić’s right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) received 104 seats, with the remaining parliamentary seats anticipated to go to ethnic national minority parties.
The announcement triggered immediate celebrations across Belgrade and other cities. Citizens gathered in the streets to hug, handshake, and high-five police officers while drivers sounded their horns. At the Students’ List headquarters, emotional supporters cheered and chanted “Victory, victory!” Speaking on behalf of the students, Belgrade University professor Radomir Saičić declared, “Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard. Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.” A woman celebrating in the street expressed her immense joy to reporters, noting the relief of finally overcoming the ruling regime. Celebrations erupted on the streets of Belgrade and other cities. “Unbelievable happiness and joy and we have finally got rid of this mafia, as news broke that Vučić’s 12 years in power had come to an end. I am so happy I cannot speak,” one woman told Reuters. High fives and hugs to police officers in the streets, while a chorus of honking horns rang out from passing cars, others offered handshakes. Speculation had begun to swirl online about whether Vučić would seek to hold on to power regardless, as people waited for the election results to come in.
The decisive vote followed a historic voter turnout. Lines formed early outside polling stations across the nation, with voters waiting up to two hours to participate. By 7pm local time, monitors reported turnout had reached 67.6%, marking the highest voter participation in Serbia since the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1992. The surge in participation followed a massive pre-election rally last week in Belgrade that drew an estimated 150,000 people, signaling strong momentum for the anti-establishment movement. The scenes of joy came hours after a record number of voters turned up to cast their ballot on Sunday.
The pivotal election traces its roots to November 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station, killing 16 people. The tragic accident sparked student demonstrations that rapidly expanded into a nation-wide anti-corruption movement amid allegations of unsafe construction and government fraud. As pressure intensified, Vučić resigned from the presidency last month to call snap parliamentary elections.
Capitalizing on the opportunity, the student movement formed a diverse 250-candidate slate featuring academics, athletes, and farmers aimed at restoring democratic institutions and rebuilding the national economy. During the campaign, they challenged the dominant SNS political apparatus, which maintained heavy influence over state institutions and broadcast media. Students took their message directly to voters through rallies and door-to-door outreach—even entering rural Vučić strongholds—under the campaign slogan “Serbia or Mafia?”
On election day, Dejan Bodiroga, a candidate on the student list and president of EuroLeague Basketball, reflected the movement’s mission as he voted in Belgrade. He told reporters that Serbia was fighting for freedom to reclaim a hijacked nation and choosing whether to head toward the future or the past.
Throughout the campaign, Vučić attempted to counter the movement by dismissing the students as puppets of foreign interests and promising increased pensions and public sector wages. He pitched himself as a seasoned statesman capable of navigating complex geopolitical relationships between Western nations, Russia, and China. A charge that the students have dismissed, vučić had repeatedly sought to undermine the students by accusing them of being stooges of foreign powers.
The election atmosphere was also marked by warnings from observers. Raša Nedeljkov of the election monitoring group CRTA highlighted that monitors recorded numerous voting irregularities and noted an increasing frequency of violent incidents outside polling stations during the vote.
Unlike fears that Vučić might attempt to cling to power, his swift concession mirrored the action of his ally, Viktor Orbán of neighboring Hungary, six months prior. International observers view the outcome as a significant moment within a global series of elections pitting pro-democracy movements against authoritarian leaders, providing renewed momentum to youth-led activism across Europe. The results will be watched across the world as part of 10 pivotal days of elections across the globe in which the authoritarian right is facing off against pro-democracy forces. Follow the reaction to the result with our liveblog.
