Serbia's longtime leader Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in snap parliamentary elections on Sunday to the Student List, a student-led anti-corruption movement that mobilized voters across the country.
"We still do not have final results... it is clear that we have lost these elections," Vučić said late Sunday at Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) headquarters in Belgrade. Vučić had served two terms as president and was unable to seek a third under term limits, so he led his party in hopes of returning to the post of prime minister, which he vacated in 2017.
The election was triggered after two years of protests following the December 2023 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad that killed 16 people. The disaster became a symbol of systemic corruption and negligence under Vučić's rule.
Preliminary figures from Serbia's election commission showed record turnout of 64.9% by 18:00 local time, two hours before polls closed. Commentators had suggested high turnout would benefit the opposition movement. Celebrations erupted across Serbia after Vučić's concession, with people dancing, chanting "victory," honking car horns and setting off fireworks in Belgrade and Novi Sad.
The Student List fielded candidates from across Serbian society including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities. The movement has no obvious leadership structure and its members lack political experience. Its lead candidate, Ilija Srdanović, told BBC Serbian the movement aimed to "free the country from tyranny" and create "a free state." Radomir Saicic, another Student List candidate, said Serbians had demonstrated that "no obstacle was greater than their will."
The anti-corruption movement campaigned on a platform that included removing officials who broke rules or cracked down on protesters, preventing party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and removing political control from the public broadcaster.
Long queues formed at polling stations across Serbia and at Serbian diaspora voting locations in Ljubljana, Munich, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Paris, where voters waited in heavy rain.
Vučić and the SNS have repeatedly denied corruption allegations. Vučić backs Serbia's European Union candidacy while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.