Serbia's longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic conceded parliamentary election defeat on Sunday to a student-led movement that protested against his government for nearly two years. Initial vote counts showed Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won approximately 105 seats in the 250-member parliament, compared with 135 to 140 for the Student List. Voter turnout reached its highest level in more than 30 years.
The student movement emerged after a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Protests expanded into broader social unrest and evolved into a political platform promising to tackle corruption, depoliticise public institutions and restore citizens' rights. Election campaign leadership fell to Ilija Srdanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad. The movement drew support from university professors, doctors and workers. Vucic labeled the demonstrators "blockaders" and accused them of seeking to destabilise Serbia.
Vucic, born in Belgrade in 1970 and a law graduate from the University of Belgrade, entered politics in 1993 through the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party. His 1990s record included nationalist rhetoric. In July 1995, nine days after the Srebrenica genocide, he stated in parliament: "Kill one Serb, and we will kill 100 Muslims" during debate on potential NATO strikes. His political mentor, Vojislav Seselj, was sentenced in 2018 to 10 years imprisonment for persecution, deportation and forcible transfer of non-Serbs during 1990s Balkan wars.
Vucic and Tomislav Nikolic founded the SNS in 2008 after a party split, positioning it toward mainstream European politics. The SNS took power in 2012 promising to fight corruption and organised crime. Vucic served as first deputy prime minister until 2014, then prime minister until 2017, and became president in 2017, winning re-election in 2022.
Under student pressure, Vucic resigned in September and called early elections. The economy expanded significantly during his tenure. Unemployment fell from 26 percent to 8 to 9 percent. Nominal GDP nearly tripled to approximately 90 billion euros. Foreign direct investment rose from 800 million euros in 2012 to a record 5.2 billion euros in 2024. Modern motorways were constructed. Rising living costs and public debt remain contentious policy issues. Political scientist Dusko Radosavljevic told Al Jazeera the past decade involved "systematic pressure and the destruction of social institutions," with intelligence services monitoring political opponents and critical thinking excluded from public media.