Vucic concedes defeat to student-led movement in Serbian parliamentary election

Aleksandar Vucic, the dominant figure in Serbian politics for 14 years, acknowledged on Sunday that his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) had been beaten in a snap parliamentary vote by the Students' List, a movement born from two years of youth-led protests against his government.

Addressing supporters at SNS headquarters in Belgrade, Vucic said, "We still do not have final results... it is clear that we have lost these elections," BBC News reported. The Associated Press, in a report published by PBS NewsHour, said Vucic cited party projections giving the Students' List between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat Parliament, against roughly 105 for the SNS. By his count, the movement drew about 2.2 million votes and his party about 1.7 million.

According to the AP, Vucic attributed the loss to independent Serbian media, to alleged meddling by European countries he did not name, and to unspecified American interference. His concession came roughly an hour and a half after voting ended, the AP said.

Term limits kept Vucic from a third presidential term, so he sought to reclaim the prime minister's office he held until 2017, BBC News reported. The AP said he quit the presidency last month to run the campaign and had received an endorsement from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The protests trace back to 2024, when 16 people died after part of the Novi Sad railway station's roof structure gave way. Demonstrators linked the deaths to graft and negligence. BBC News noted that Vucic and the SNS have consistently rejected corruption accusations.

No students appeared on the movement's ballot. Its slate instead drew on doctors, academics, athletes, farmers, actors and artists, both outlets reported. According to BBC News, its program called for removing officials who violated rules while suppressing protests, keeping party loyalists out of state companies' leadership, and ending political control over the public broadcaster. Lead candidate Ilija Srdanovic told BBC Serbian: "This will be a free state."

Participation was unusually strong. BBC News cited electoral commission data showing 64.9% of voters had cast ballots with two hours of voting left, a record. The AP said monitors projected final turnout around 70%, the highest since 2000. Voters lined up both inside Serbia and at diaspora polling sites.

The AP reported that independent observers logged dozens of problems, among them people photographing ballots and attempts to buy votes. During the day, police closed streets surrounding the electoral commission building in Belgrade.

Once the result was known, crowds celebrated in Belgrade, Novi Sad and elsewhere. In central Belgrade, people tore down a camp that Vucic supporters had occupied, and one tent was burned, the AP said.

The European Union, which Serbia is seeking to join, had been monitoring the election closely, according to the AP.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/457