VUCIC CONCEDES SERBIAN ELECTION TO STUDENT LIST

Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat in Serbia’s snap parliamentary election on Sunday, with preliminary projections giving the student-backed Student List a majority. Speaking at his campaign headquarters in Belgrade before the release of final official results, Vucic said: “It is clear that we have lost these elections.” Polling agencies Ipsos and CeSID projected 52 per cent of the vote for the Student List and 39.3 per cent for Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party-led coalition. Seat estimates put the Student List on 135 to 140 of the 250 parliamentary seats and Vucic’s coalition on 104 to 105. The projected result would end the Serbian Progressive Party’s 14 years in power.

The election followed nearly two years of student-led demonstrations against what protesters described as corruption and growing authoritarianism. The protests began after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, killing 16 people. Vucic estimated that the Student List received about 2.2 million votes and his coalition about 1.72 million. Turnout was reported at nearly 70 per cent, the highest since Yugoslavia broke up in 1992. Voters formed long queues at polling stations across Serbian towns and cities.

Radomir Sajcic, a University of Belgrade professor, addressed supporters at the Student List’s headquarters. “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future,” he said. In Belgrade, drivers sounded their horns and students chanted “victory” and “he’s done”. A woman named Tanja joined the celebrations and said she was happy Vucic’s party had lost power. Pollsters projected that ethnic minority parties would take the remaining parliamentary seats.