Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić Resigns to Run for Prime Minister

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić resigned on Sunday and said he would seek the prime minister’s post in snap parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25.

Addressing supporters outside the presidential palace in Belgrade, Vučić said he would transfer his duties to parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabić, who will serve as interim president. Serbia’s constitution bars Vučić, now in his second presidential term, from seeking a third. His term had been due to end in 2027.

The early parliamentary election follows more than a year of student-led protests triggered by the November 2024 collapse of a concrete canopy at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. Protesters have demanded accountability, greater transparency in public procurement, action against alleged systemic corruption and an early vote. Several officials resigned or were arrested after the disaster, but demonstrations continued.

A presidential election must be held within three months of Vučić’s departure. He said it would take place more than a month after the parliamentary vote.

Vučić, who previously served as prime minister and became president in 2017, is seeking to remain at the center of Serbian politics as leader of the Serbian Progressive Party. In the parliamentary election, the party will face the student-led Students Win movement and a coalition of pro-Western opposition parties called European Serbia.