Serbia's Longtime Leader Concedes Defeat to Student Movement After Record Turnout

Serbia's longtime leader, Aleksandar Vučić, conceded defeat on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election, handing a stunning political victory to a student-led protest movement, according to The Guardian and the BBC.

Speaking at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Belgrade, Vučić said final results were not yet in but that “it is clear that we lost these elections.” The BBC reported celebrations in the capital, with cars honking and students chanting “victory.”

The numbers behind the vote

• 67.6%: turnout as of 7 p.m. local time, according to the pollsters and monitors CeSID and Ipsos, as reported by The Guardian. That is the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. The BBC said preliminary figures from the election commission also showed record turnout.
• 150,000: the number of people who attended the students' final pre-election rally in central Belgrade on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera and The Guardian.
• 250: candidates on the Student List, which was running for all 250 seats in parliament. They include professors, actors, athletes and farmers, and the slate is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, Al Jazeera reported.
• 47 percent to 40 percent: the SNS lead over the students in an Ipsos poll published on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet noted that other polls put the students ahead, and the result suggests the surveys were far from unanimous.
• 16: the number of people killed in the November 2024 collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, the event that set off the protests.

How a station collapse became a political movement

The protests began after the canopy collapse in Novi Sad. Evidence suggested that poor construction, fraud and corruption were to blame, The Guardian reported, and the demonstrations grew from student-led gatherings into a broad anti-government movement lasting almost two years.

Vučić has led Serbia for more than a decade, first as prime minister and then as president. He resigned the presidency in September to run again for prime minister and called the early vote. Al Jazeera noted that many voters credit him with pulling the country out of economic obscurity and overseeing a period of modernization, and that he promised higher pensions and public sector salaries, more spending on state health care and subsidies for young couples.

The students campaigned on rooting out corruption, restoring the rule of law and rebuilding institutions, The Guardian and Al Jazeera reported. They held rallies, visited rural areas that were long loyal to Vučić and went door to door under the slogan “Serbia or Mafia?” Vučić repeatedly accused them of acting for foreign powers, a claim the students deny.

Concerns over irregularities

Local and international election monitors had raised concerns before the vote about detentions and reports of surveillance and cyberattacks against activists, The Guardian reported. On election day, independent monitoring groups warned of photographing of ballots that suggested pressure on voters, attempted vote-buying and so-called carousel voting. Raša Nedeljkov of the monitoring group CRTA said a large number of irregularities continued to be recorded and that violent incidents outside polling stations were becoming more frequent. Vučić and his party have repeatedly denied accusations of repression and corruption.

Why it matters

A loss for Vučić would mark a profound shift in a country of six million people, Al Jazeera reported. Serbia is a candidate for European Union membership, and Vučić has balanced ties with China, Russia and the West while relations with the EU have frayed over a lack of judicial and anti-corruption reforms. Al Jazeera said the students' agenda says little about foreign policy, focusing instead on corruption and education.

The Guardian said the outcome could also add momentum to youth and student protests in cities across the continent. For people in Serbia, the practical question is how the transition unfolds, since final results had not yet been published when Vučić spoke.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Al Jazeera, The Guardian, BBC News