Vucic Concedes
Serbia's president of 12 years concedes his party has lost a snap election to a student-led movement.
Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat Sunday. His Serbian Progressive Party lost Serbia's snap parliamentary election, closing out his 12-year run as the country's dominant political figure.
"Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections," Vučić told supporters at Serbian Progressive Party headquarters in Belgrade, the Guardian reported.
Turnout hit 67.6% by 7pm local time. The highest level since Yugoslavia's breakup in 1992, according to monitors CeSID and Ipsos cited by the Guardian. Two hours before polls closed, Serbia's Statistics Office had put the figure at 64.89%, DW reported. Lines outside polling stations stretched long. Some waited two hours, the Guardian said.
The vote pitted the Progressives against the Students' List, a slate of 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament drawn from academics, athletes and farmers, the Guardian reported. Protests that began after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people, gave rise to the movement, according to the BBC and DW. Shoddy construction, fraud and corruption caused the collapse, protesters said. The government rejected those allegations, DW reported.
Vučić resigned the presidency last month and called the snap election, running instead for prime minister, DW reported. Serbia's constitution barred him from a third presidential term. His second term had been due to run until May 2027, according to DW.
Critics have accused Vučić of concentrating power, weakening independent media and undermining democratic institutions, DW reported. Vučić and his party denied the allegations, DW said.
During the campaign, Vučić accused the student movement of acting on behalf of foreign powers, a charge the students dismissed, the Guardian reported. He also pledged to raise pensions and public sector salaries, casting himself as a leader balancing ties with the West, Russia and China, according to the Guardian.
Belgrade erupted in celebration after the concession, drivers honking horns and students chanting "victory," the BBC reported.
Ilija Srdanovic, a cardiologist who heads the Students' List, cast his ballot in Novi Sad earlier Sunday. "I hope that today will pass in a democratic atmosphere, in peace, and that we will legitimately elect a new government in Serbia," he told DW.