Serbia’s Vučić concedes snap elections to student-led movement after highest turnout since 1992

“We still do not have final results... it is clear that we have lost these elections,” Aleksandar Vučić said on Sunday evening, conceding defeat to a student-led protest movement that had drawn anti-government voters across the country. He spoke at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party in the capital, Belgrade. The final tally had not been published. The outcome was no longer in doubt.

A sample-based projection, presented by Vučić himself as he acknowledged the result before supporters at SNS headquarters, gave the Student List between 135 and 140 seats in Serbia’s 250-member parliament, compared with 105 for his own electoral list. The opposition group is set to secure a majority of seats, he said. A total of 126 seats is needed to form a government, placing the student movement well past the threshold if the projection holds.

The State Election Commission reported that 64.9% of eligible voters had cast ballots by 6pm local time (17:00 GMT), the highest turnout since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. Polls closed at 8pm local time (19:00 GMT) on Sunday. University of Belgrade researcher Jelena Vasiljevic, in an interview published the Friday before the vote, noted that the SNS possessed a reliable voter base while the students needed to attract people who normally did not vote.

From a collapsed canopy to a national movement

The movement traces its origins to November 2024, when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people. The disaster was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia. Initial demands for accountability widened into a broader anti-government movement against alleged corruption and repression, drawing students and citizens into nearly two years of sustained nationwide protest. Vučić called the snap elections after two years of protests. He and the SNS have repeatedly denied the corruption accusations.

A student list with no obvious leaders

The Student List, also called Students Win, emerged from the demonstrations and has no obvious leaders. Its members are not used to politics. It attracted anti-government voters across Serbia and fielded candidates drawn from across society, including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities, many of whom had no political experience. The movement campaigns for stronger institutions and an end to corruption. Its manifesto called for purging officials who broke rules cracking down on protesters, stopping party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and freeing the public broadcaster of political control. Some established opposition parties backed the students rather than fielding their own candidates, consolidating anti-government sentiment behind a single slate.

Vučić’s pivot and his party’s long grip on power

The SNS has governed Serbia since 2012. Vučić had served two terms as president and could not seek a third, and he resigned the presidency in September to run for prime minister, a post he previously held and left in 2017. The BBC has described him as a right-wing populist leader. During the campaign he promised higher pensions, public-sector wages and investment in state healthcare. He backs Serbia’s candidacy for the European Union while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Supporters of his rule have credited it with modernising Serbia’s economy.

Irregularities and a heavy security presence

The Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability, an independent election watchdog, said its observers recorded pressure on voters or election workers at almost a third of the 500 polling stations it monitored, and also reported failures to protect ballot secrecy. By 5pm (16:00 GMT), the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy had received about 260 reports of potential irregularities, including ballot photography, group voting and difficulties with identification checks. In Belgrade, police wearing riot helmets and carrying shields were deployed near the election commission’s headquarters, with roads closed and barricades erected. City prosecutors appealed on Sunday for everyone involved in the election to avoid violence.

Celebrations in the streets

Celebrations filled the streets of the capital, Belgrade, with people dancing, chanting “victory,” honking car horns and setting off fireworks. “Serbia is free,” one student told the BBC. “It’s a miracle.” At the Student List headquarters, Vučić’s concession was greeted with cheers, euphoria and tears, according to the Belgrade-based FoNet news agency. “This will be a free state,” said Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist and the list’s lead candidate, in a statement to BBC Serbian. He said the movement hoped to free the country from tyranny.