Serbian president concedes defeat to student-led movement in election

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement in parliamentary elections.

The protests were initially triggered by a train station canopy collapse in the city of Novi Sad in 2024 that killed 16 people. Vučić called the snap elections in September, after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism.

Vučić, endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and previously denouncing the student movement as a foreign-led attempt to unseat him, led the Balkan country for 14 years. Turnout was nearly 70 per cent, the highest since the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992. Therefore, Belgrade’s streets erupted in celebration after Vučić’s announcement, with cars honking and students shouting “victory” and “he’s done”.

But a representative sample by the CESID-IPSPS pollsters showed the student’s candidate list would have 138 deputies, while Vučić’s SNS party garnered 104 seats in the 250-seat parliament. Their list of 250 largely unknown personalities includes university professors, actors and farmers, and is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, although it is still unclear who will be prime minister, so much remains unclear about how the student-backed candidates will fare.