Vucic Concedes Defeat as Student-Led List Wins Serbia's Parliamentary Election

Aleksandar Vucic, the long-serving strongman of Serbia, conceded defeat on Sunday in a parliamentary election that set his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) against a broad student-led opposition movement. The result is a major political shift in the Balkan country, where Vucic had held virtually absolute power for 14 years.

Speaking to supporters at his party's election night event, Vucic said: "The Students' List has won." He announced the outcome only about an hour and a half after polls closed. By his party's projections, the Students' List will take between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member Parliament, while the SNS will hold around 105. He put his party's tally at about 1.7 million votes, against roughly 2.2 million for the Students' List.

Vucic also blamed Serbia's independent media, alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an "American deep state" for the loss. He had been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and had denounced the student movement as a foreign-led attempt to remove him.

Supporters of the Students' List poured into the streets of Belgrade and other cities, honking horns and chanting "Aleksandar is gone." Earlier in the day, tensions had built as voting went on. Police in anti-riot gear cordoned off the area around the election commission headquarters in central Belgrade. Special police vehicles were seen near a park where Vucic loyalists have camped for more than a year, and large groups of black-clad men gathered at various points in the city.

Vucic had hoped to become prime minister after serving two near-full terms as president. He resigned the presidency last month to lead the campaign. His support had been eroding since 2024, when 16 people died after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad. The disaster set off youth protests that blamed the collapse on high-level corruption, cronyism and graft during renovation work at the station.

Even so, many Serbian voters stayed loyal to him, seeing him as a capable leader able to guide the country through global uncertainty. Although he had repeatedly outmaneuvered a fractured opposition, the leaderless youth movement shook his grip on power more than any rival since his party took office.

The Students' List was shaped by university students, but none of them appeared on the ballot. Its candidates are little-known experts, athletes, farmers and artists, a choice meant to counter one-man rule and restore a sense of community. Its campaign centered on a non-partisan effort to rebuild the economy and restore democracy. Despite being vilified by pro-government media, students cycled and walked across the country to reach rural voters in areas that have traditionally backed Vucic.

Monitors predicted turnout could reach around 70%, a level not seen in Serbia since 2000. Long queues formed at polling stations at home and in cities abroad. Some members of the diaspora were made to vote in the middle of the night after authorities tied voting hours to local Serbian time.

The European Union, which Serbia hopes to join, was closely watching the vote. Independent monitors reported dozens of irregularities, including photographing of ballots, which suggested pressure on voters, and attempted vote buying. Observers had also raised concerns about a campaign marked by detentions, near-total government control of the media, and reports of surveillance and cyberattacks against activists. The outcome also echoes the recent defeat in Hungary of Viktor Orbán, whose removal after 16 years was helped by youth participation.