Serbia woke to a new political era on Monday after a student-backed protest movement unseated longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic in a snap parliamentary election, with a near-final count giving the movement a commanding majority.
With almost 99 percent of votes counted, the students’ candidates had secured 52.7 percent of the vote, according to the State Election Commission, versus 39.2 percent for Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)-led alliance, Reuters reported. That gives the students 139 seats in the 250-seat parliament, leaving the SNS alliance with 97 and the remainder held by minority parties.
Vucic conceded defeat late on Sunday, telling supporters at SNS headquarters in Belgrade: “It is clear that we have lost these elections.” On his party’s own sample of the count, he projected the Student List at between 135 and 140 seats against about 105 for his party. Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president since 2014, also blamed independent Serbian media and alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an “American deep state” — claims he offered without evidence.
From protest movement to governing force
The movement was born out of anti-corruption protests that followed the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad in 2024. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Belgrade and other cities after the concession, capping two years of peaceful demonstrations calling for Vucic to step down.
The Student List’s 250 candidates include university professors, actors, farmers, doctors and lawyers. Its list is headed by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, and prominent figures include former central bank governor Dejan Soskic. But the movement has no clear leader, and it is not yet clear who it will appoint as prime minister.
Serbia’s constitution allows up to 90 days for a government to be formed once parliament is convened after the announcement of final results by the election commission.
What the new leaders face
The challenges are immediate. The Student List says Kosovo, which declared independence from Belgrade in 2008, remains an integral part of Serbia, and its candidates have said it could be reintegrated through peaceful means, diplomacy and dialogue — a position at odds with European Union membership, which requires Belgrade to normalise relations with Pristina.
The movement has also said it has no plans to align with the EU and impose sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Serbia did not sign up to EU-backed sanctions and has continued close economic, political and military ties with Moscow. Russia’s Gazprom is Serbia’s biggest gas supplier, delivering around 2.2 billion cubic metres a year at below-market pricing, and the new government would rely on U.S. sanctions waivers to maintain crude imports while it waits for the sale of Russia’s stake in energy company NIS, which operates Serbia’s only oil refinery.
On the economy, the International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of 3 percent in 2026 and 4 percent in 2027. Inflation in September stood at 4.1 percent, almost double August’s 2.2 percent, while the central bank has held its benchmark rate at 5.75 percent since 2024. The Student List’s platform centres on rooting out graft, improving schooling, curbing retail monopolies to lower food prices, and raising levies on wealthy citizens while cutting them for lower-income groups.
Reactions in Moscow and Brussels
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov paid tribute to Vucic on Monday, saying Moscow had taken note of the result and lavished praise on its longtime ally. “We greatly appreciate the contribution that Mr Vucic has made to the development of our bilateral relations. We are aware that Mr Vucic will remain active in politics, and we hope that, even while in opposition, he will continue to contribute to the development of our bilateral relations,” Peskov told reporters.
He added that Moscow hoped Serbia’s new rulers would understand that cooperation with Russia was in their own country’s interests. “For our part, we intend to continue to do everything we can to foster the development of our relations with Belgrade. But, as you know, it takes two to tango,” Peskov said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc stood ready to support reforms, including on the rule of law and media freedom, and to work together to advance Serbia’s future in the EU.
Vucic and the SNS have repeatedly denied accusations of repression and corruption. The result marks a profound political shift in a country of some 6 million people, and follows the electoral defeat of another longtime leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, in April.
Sources: Reuters; CNN.
