Serbian President Concedes Election Defeat to Student-Led Coalition

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has conceded defeat in Sunday’s election to a student-led protest movement.

“It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won,” Vucic said in a televised speech.

Vucic, a nationalist who was criticized by the European Union last month after Ratko Mladic, a convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal, was given a funeral with full military honors, has dominated Serbian politics since 2014, either as prime minister or president.

Serbia saw large-scale protests following the deaths of 16 people when the concrete canopy of the train station in ⁠the city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024.

The station was being renovated with funding from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but protesters claimed the work was shoddy and the project was riddled with corruption.

Vucic called snap elections last month, after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

“We have had … huge turbulence,” Vucic said at the time. “We need election results that will clearly show the will of the people and the direction where Serbia is going.”

Vucic said that, based on preliminary results, Student List was predicted to win between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament, with the SNS at 105.

‘Tomorrow We Build the Future’

“Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard,” Radomir Sajcic, a professor at Belgrade University and a Student List candidate, said. “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.”

“Good morning, victors! Good morning, free Serbia!” Student List wrote in an Oct. 26 post on X.

The Student List candidates include university professors, actors, and farmers, as well as former basketball player and EuroLeague President Dejan Bodiroga.

Cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic leads the group and may become president or prime minister.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Student List on its victory in a post on X late on Oct. 25.

“We stand ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom, the fight against corruption and strong democratic institutions, and to work together to advance Serbia’s future in the European Union,” von der Leyen said.

Last month, she said she was dismayed by images of the funeral of Mladic, who died in U.N. custody while serving a life sentence for war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the 1992–1995 civil war.

He had been the Bosnian Serb commander and was convicted of killing thousands of Bosnian Muslims as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

On Sept. 8, von der Leyen said official support for the funeral was “deeply regrettable” and demonstrated a “failure to confront a dark chapter in Europe’s recent history and contradict the values underpinning Serbia’s path towards the European Union.”

Shortly after Vucic conceded defeat, tens of thousands of Student List supporters took to the streets of downtown Belgrade to celebrate the victory.

After conceding defeat, Vucic pledged to continue in opposition.

‘We Are Very United’: Vucic

“Some ​businessmen, some people will leave us, but our structure is firm; we are very united, very strong, we are used to ​being in the opposition,” Vucic said.

Vucic also said three representatives of an ethnic Hungarian party in Vojvodina, in northern Serbia, had been elected along with “one Albanian,” believed to be a reference to the Albanian Coalition, which was running for election in southern Serbia, close to the border with Kosovo.

Russia has been an ally of Vucic, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the election outcome.

“We highly value the contribution that Vucic has made to the development of our bilateral relations,” Peskov said.

“We know that Mr. Vucic will remain on the political scene, and we hope that, even while in the opposition, he will continue to contribute to the development of these bilateral relations.

“As for the new political force that will come to power as a result of the elections, we hope that its actions will also be constructively directed toward the further development of relations, and that these new political forces will understand that cooperation with Russia is in Serbia’s interest.”

Reuters contributed to this report.