Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s long-standing leader and its former president, has conceded the snap parliamentary election of Sunday 25 October to the Student List, the movement that grew out of protests over the collapse of the station canopy in Novi Sad. The movement is on course for about 140 of 250 seats, on projections.
“It is clear we have lost these elections,” Mr Vučić said late on Sunday 25 October at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Belgrade, the BBC reported. He cited preliminary figures that gave the students 2.2 million votes and his party 1.72 million.
A Majority on the Projections
Mr Vučić told supporters the Student List would have between 135 and 140 seats and his own list 105, The Guardian and Al Jazeera reported. The projections moved as counting went on. A CeSID-Ipsos sample reported by The Guardian gave the Student List 138 seats and the SNS 104, and a later Ipsos and CeSID projection, reported by Diplomacy&Commerce on 26 October, gave the students 140 and the SNS 103, with seven seats going to minority lists.
Preliminary figures from the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), drawn from 7,998 polling stations, put the Student List on 52.33 per cent, or 2,158,583 votes, and Mr Vučić’s list on 39.44 per cent, according to Diplomacy&Commerce, which noted that final results are still to be confirmed. CeSID had projected 52.9 per cent for the students and put turnout at 69.34 per cent, the highest for years, the BBC reported.
Independent monitors reported irregularities on polling day, among them photographed ballots, attempted vote-buying and carousel voting, The Guardian reported.
Celebrations in Belgrade and Novi Sad
Crowds celebrated in central Belgrade, in Novi Sad and in other cities after the concession, the BBC reported. Radomir Saičić, a Belgrade University professor speaking for the students, told supporters: “Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard,” according to The Guardian. He went on: “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.”
The movement’s lead candidate, Ilija Srdanović, is a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, according to Al Jazeera. He told BBC Serbian: “This will be a free state.”
Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, welcomed the result, the BBC reported. Marta Kos, the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, said “a new chapter can begin for Serbia. The door to the EU is open, and we are ready to move forward together”. Our earlier European coverage includes the European Parliament’s award of its Sakharov Prize to the International Criminal Court.
How the Movement Began
The Student List formed less than two years ago, after the canopy at Novi Sad station collapsed on 1 November 2024 and killed 16 people, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported. It fielded a full slate of 250 candidates, from academics to athletes and farmers, according to The Guardian, and the BBC reported that doctors and actors were among them.
Its manifesto included purging officials who broke rules in cracking down on protesters, and freeing the public broadcaster from political control, the BBC reported. Mr Vučić and the SNS have repeatedly denied corruption.
Political scientist Dusko Radosavljevic told Al Jazeera that “the students simply gave a voice to the justified anger of citizens.”
The SNS had been in power since 2012, according to the BBC. Mr Vučić served two terms as president and could not seek a third, and he led the party’s list with the aim of returning as prime minister, a post he left in 2017. He resigned the presidency in September to lead that list, Al Jazeera and The Guardian reported, and parliament speaker Ana Brnabić is acting president in a caretaker capacity, according to the BBC.
What Happens Next in Belgrade
Every count so far is preliminary, and the electoral commission has still to confirm the final results. A government is still to be formed, and the question of who leads the Student List as prime minister comes next, the BBC reported. Presidential elections are due in December, according to the BBC.
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Sources: BBC News, “Celebrations in Serbia after veteran ruler Vučić loses election to student-led protest movement”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw5yn3xlprpmo); The Guardian, “Serbian leader Aleksandar Vučić ousted by student movement in seismic election”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/25/serbian-leader-aleksandar-vucic-concedes-defeat-in-fiercely-contested-parliamentary-election); Al Jazeera, “Aleksandar Vucic, the Serbian leader brought down by students”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/26/aleksandar-vucic-the-serbian-leader-brought-down-by-students); Diplomacy&Commerce, “Student List Wins Landslide Victory in Serbia’s Snap Parliamentary Elections”, 26 October 2026 (https://www.diplomacyandcommerce.rs/student-list-wins-landslide-victory-in-serbias-snap-parliamentary-elections/)
Photo: Bestalex, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The House of the National Assembly in Belgrade, seat of Serbia’s 250-member parliament, lit up at dusk in October 2015.
