Vucic Concedes Defeat to Student-Led List in Serbian Parliamentary Vote

Aleksandar Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics for more than 14 years, conceded defeat on October 25 in parliamentary elections won by the student-led protest movement. The result could open a new chapter in which Serbia moves closer to Europe and further from the Kremlin.

"It is clear that we have lost these elections," Vucic told a late-night news conference after polling stations closed. Citing preliminary results, he said the Students' List would hold between 135 and 140 seats and his side 105, adding that no other party had entered parliament. Celebrations broke out among student leaders and supporters in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities.

Some observers likened the outcome to the April defeat of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, another authoritarian figure seen as friendly to Russia. In Serbia, 18 electoral lists with more than 2,400 candidates competed for 250 parliamentary seats.

Ilija Srdanovic, the Students' List's leading candidate, promised to begin building a state based on the rule of law. "We showed that change is possible when there is the will to make it happen," he said. Radomir Saicic, a Belgrade University professor running on the list, said: "Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future."

European Council President Antonio Costa congratulated the winners on X and said the EU stood ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom, anti-corruption efforts and democratic institutions. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered nearly identical support for Serbia's future in the European Union.

Final results had not been announced, but independent observers said turnout could reach its highest level in decades, approaching 70 percent, after long lines at polling stations across the country of about 6.6 million people. Vucic, president since 2017, resigned in late September. Barred from a third term, he had called a snap election hoping to become prime minister.

The Students' List grew out of months of protests over the deaths of 16 people in the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad. The disaster shocked the public amid reports that corrupt practices had led to shoddy construction on a flagship government project carried out by Chinese companies.

Despite conceding, Vucic voiced anger, calling the outcome the result of "dirty work" by opponents of US President Donald Trump and by leaders in other European capitals. He predicted that sanctions on Russia would be imposed "by March or April." Serbia has long-standing ethnic and religious ties with Russia, and many Serbs still back President Vladimir Putin and oppose sanctions. Vucic has often praised Trump, though US lawmakers from both parties have raised concerns about Serbia's democratic record and foreign influence there.

There was no immediate White House reaction. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, a longtime Vucic critic and Helsinki Commission co-chair, told RFE/RL the Serbian people had earned the victory and predicted a move away from Chinese influence and Russian energy. Ivana Stradner of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said removing Vucic is only the beginning and that Serbia must dismantle the system of corruption and authoritarian control that sustained his rule.