A concession after 14 years in power

Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat on Sunday, saying in preliminary results that it was clear his side had lost and that the Student List had won the snap election. His party has held office for 14 years, and the leaderless youth movement shook his grip like no opposition before it.

He projected the following split of the 250-seat parliament:

• •135 to 140 seats for the Student List, by Vucic's own projection
• •105 seats for his own party, on the same preliminary count
• •138 deputies for the student list and 104 for Vucic's SNS, according to a CESID-IPSPS representative sample
• •The remaining seats to be shared between ethnic national minority parties, with no one else entering parliament

From Novi Sad to the ballot box

The vote came after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism. The movement was triggered when a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, killing 16 people. Turnout reached nearly 70%, the highest since the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1992.

Celebration and tension in Belgrade

After Vucic's announcement, the streets of Belgrade erupted in celebration, with cars honking and students shouting "victory" and "he's done". Tanja, a woman celebrating in the city, described the mood: "Unbelievable happiness and joy and we have finally got rid of this mafia."

The day itself was tense. Police in anti-riot gear cordoned off central Belgrade around the election commission headquarters, and local media reported several violent incidents across the country. Special police vehicles were seen near a Belgrade park where Vucic's loyalists have been camping for over a year.

A pledge to respect the result

Before voting, Vucic had said: "The will of the people is the will of God: vox populi, vox dei. If we lose, we will recognise the electoral will." He queued nearly two hours with his wife in Belgrade before casting his ballot, and said he hoped for a peaceful election day and that he and his party would respect the result.

The students also moved to defuse tension: at a news conference less than two hours before polls closed, a student representative urged citizens to "stay calm and composed." Celebrations began at their headquarters, where Radomir Sajcic, a Belgrade University professor speaking for the students, addressed the crowd: "Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard... Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future."

Voting abroad brought its own scenes, with long queues forming in the middle of the night after authorities tied voting hours to local Serbian time. Vucic had pledged before the polls to recognise the electoral will; attention now turns to the final seat distribution in the 250-seat parliament.