Serbia election: Vučić concedes defeat as the Students’ List takes 52.6% with 97% of polling stations counted

Serbia’s snap parliamentary election on Sunday, October 25, closed the cycle of dominance of former president Aleksandar Vučić. The “Students’ List – Students Win”, born of the protest movement of the past two years, has gathered 52.64% of the vote, while the “Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia” list is limited to 39.22%. Vučić himself publicly conceded defeat the same evening.

The figures come from Serbia’s Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and cover 8,134 of the 8,392 polling stations, as they stood on the morning of Monday, October 26, Serbian time. In absolute numbers, the student list has 2,245,486 votes and Vučić’s list 1,672,881. Third, far behind, is Ivica Dačić’s Socialist Party with 2.17%, while none of the remaining 15 lists reaches 1%. They include Miloš Jovanović’s “Authentic Right” (0.90%), the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (0.81%) and the “Albanian Coalition” (0.65%). Also on the ballot was a small list involving the Citizens’ Party of the Greeks of Serbia, which received about 1,150 votes.

Turnout was historic. In the polling stations counted, 68.81% of registered voters cast ballots, and already at 18:00 the commission had announced 64.89%, with Vojvodina first (66.90%) and Belgrade at 65.67%. Southern and Eastern Serbia was lower, at 62.01%. Invalid ballots were only 1.3%.

The concession

The concession came about an hour and a half after the polls closed, from the election centre of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The head of the list “stated that the list had lost the snap parliamentary election and that the Students’ List had won”, as the party itself posted. Speaking to supporters, Vučić estimated, on the basis of a sample of votes, that the students would take 135 to 140 of the 250 seats in the National Assembly and his list about 105. CBS News wrote that he blamed the defeat on independent media, on interference by European countries he did not name and on an “American deep state”.

Vučić had resigned the presidency of the Republic in September to run for prime minister, after almost two full terms. The SNS has governed since 2012, and he dominated Serbian politics from 2014, as prime minister and as president. In February he had been in the news with his opening to Ankara and Turkish-Serbian military cooperation. His decline began in November 2024, when the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people and set off the wave of student protests against corruption.

In the winners’ camp the first reaction was laconic: “The students won,” the movement calling itself “Students in Blockade” wrote. A little later they urged citizens to stay calm, noting that “the work is not finished” and that the count continues, and invited Belgraders to Milutin Milanković Street to celebrate. The electoral commission reminded the public that results are being posted gradually on its website until the final ones are set.

Brussels reacts

Brussels reacted the same night. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa congratulated the Students’ List and said they were ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and the fight against corruption, with a view to the country’s European future. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos noted that “the EU door is open”. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar spoke by phone with the student leaders and assured them of Hungary’s support.

In Greece and Cyprus the development is also watched from the angle of defence cooperation with Belgrade: in early October Cyprus and Serbia signed a memorandum of cooperation between their defence ministries. The new majority must first form a government, once RIK announces the final results and the allocation of seats.