Vučić Concedes Defeat as Serbia’s Students Win Snap Election

Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat Sunday night in Serbia’s snap parliamentary election, telling supporters at his party’s election-night event that the student-led opposition had won. “The Students’ List has won,” he said, speaking from a sample of results before the official count was finished.

Vučić said his Serbian Progressive Party projected the Students’ List would take between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member National Assembly, while his party would take around 105. He put the vote at about 2.2 million for the Students’ List and about 1.7 million for his party.

Independent election monitor CRTA put the Students’ List at 51.47 percent and Vučić’s list at 40.42 percent. Pollsters CeSID and Ipsos put turnout at 67.6 percent by 7 p.m. local time, the highest since 1992, according to The Guardian. Monitors predicted total turnout could reach around 70 percent.

Supporters of the Students’ List flooded the streets of Belgrade and other cities after the concession, honking horns and chanting “Aleksandar is gone,” CNN reported. At the Students’ List headquarters, Radomir Sajčić, a Belgrade University professor speaking for the students, said: “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.”

Vučić blamed the loss on Serbia’s independent media, unnamed European countries and what he called an “American deep state.” He said he would not flee the country and would not challenge the result in court.

The snap election was called by Vučić in September. He resigned the presidency last month to lead his party’s campaign, seeking to become prime minister after two terms as president. He first became prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017. His party has held power since 2012.

The student movement grew out of protests that began after 16 people were killed in November 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at the train station in Novi Sad. Protesters blamed the collapse on corruption and graft in the station’s renovation. Two years of demonstrations followed.

The Students’ List itself was new. No students actually appeared on its list. Its candidates were little-known experts, athletes, farmers and artists, led by Ilija Srdanović. The campaign message was non-partisan: rebuild the economy and restore democracy.

The campaign was not clean. Independent monitors reported dozens of irregularities on election day, including photographing of ballots and attempted vote buying. Both local and international monitors had raised concerns before the vote about detentions, near-total government control of the media, and reports of surveillance and cyberattacks against activists.

What comes next is a government to form. The official count by Serbia’s Republic Electoral Commission was still going on Sunday night. Serbia is a candidate for European Union membership, and Brussels watched the vote closely after past elections were marred by irregularities.