Vučić concedes Serbian election as Student List takes projected majority

Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in Serbia’s snap parliamentary election on Sunday after projections showed the opposition Student List winning an outright majority, potentially ending 14 years of rule by his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

“We still do not have final results, but on the basis of a sample it is clear that we lost these elections,” Vučić said. He estimated that the Student List would secure between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member parliament, compared with about 105 for his electoral list.

A CeSID-Ipsos projection based on 56% of its sample put the Student List at 52% of the vote and 139 seats, against 39.3% and 104 seats for Vučić’s bloc. Official counting remained under way.

Supporters celebrated at the Student List’s headquarters and gathered in Belgrade’s Slavija Square and other towns. The opposition movement grew out of protests following the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. Initial demands for accountability developed into a broader campaign against alleged corruption and repression, accusations denied by Vučić and the SNS.

Turnout was reported as the highest since Yugoslavia’s breakup in 1992, though estimates varied. Independent monitors also reported alleged irregularities, including pressure on voters and election workers, failures to protect ballot secrecy, ballot photography and group voting. Police were deployed near the election commission’s headquarters in Belgrade, and prosecutors appealed for calm.