Serbia’s student-backed opposition has won a landslide parliamentary election, ending Aleksandar Vucic’s 12-year grip on power. Vucic conceded defeat late on Sunday, after a snap election that turned nearly two years of street protests into a governing majority.
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Serbia’s student-backed list won 139 of 250 seats with 52.7% of the vote. Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat late on Sunday, ending 12 years in power. The government now faces forming a cabinet and tackling corruption, Kosovo and stalled EU talks.
The result
With almost 99% of votes counted, the Student List had secured 52.7% of the vote, according to the State Election Commission, as reported by Reuters. That is 139 seats in the 250-seat parliament. Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)-led alliance took 39.2% and 97 seats, with the rest going to minority parties.
Vucic conceded before the count was complete, saying sampling made the outcome clear. “It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won,” he said in a televised address.
Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of Belgrade and other cities to celebrate, with cars honking in central Belgrade. Turnout was among the highest in decades, with nearly 65% of registered voters having cast ballots two hours before polls closed.
From protest to parliament
The movement was born out of the 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. Protesters blamed corruption and a lack of accountability, and the demonstrations that followed became the largest in a generation.
Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister since 2014 and president since 2017, called the snap election in September hoping to defeat the movement at the ballot box. Instead, a list of 250 unknown candidates — university professors, actors and farmers, led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic — delivered the biggest defeat of his career.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated the Student List and offered support for reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and corruption, and for Serbia’s future in the European Union. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Vucic and said Russia hoped the new rulers would see cooperation with Moscow as in Serbia’s interests.
Why it matters
Serbia has long balanced EU membership ambitions against close ties to Russia and China. Vucic kept that balance for over a decade, refusing to join EU sanctions on Russia while keeping accession talks nominally alive.
The election result breaks that pattern from the inside: it was not an established opposition party that defeated Vucic, but a movement that began on university campuses. Its victory will be watched across Europe as a test of whether protest movements can convert street energy into stable government.
What happens next
The immediate task is forming a government. The Student List has yet to name its leaders, and its candidates campaigned mainly on domestic reform — rooting out graft and improving services — while saying little about foreign policy.
Harder questions follow. The list regards Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, as an integral part of Serbia and wants its Serb communities to operate autonomously — a position at odds with the normalisation the EU requires for membership. Accession talks have stalled, and the list’s candidates say domestic reforms and closing negotiating chapters must come before any referendum on joining the bloc.
For now, Belgrade is celebrating. The students who spent two years demanding accountability must now deliver it — from inside the parliament they once marched against. This article will be updated as official results are confirmed and a government takes shape.
Sources
- Reuters — “After Vucic defeat, Serbia waits to see how student-backed leaders will govern” (Oct 26, 2026)
- Reuters — “Serbia’s Vucic concedes defeat to student-led movement in parliamentary election” (Oct 25, 2026)
- Reuters — “Reactions to election victory of Serbia’s Student List” (Oct 25, 2026)
- Business Standard / AP — “Serbia’s Vucic loses election after 14 years amid student-led protests” (Oct 26, 2026)
- The New Indian Express / AFP — “Serbia’s student movement ousts longtime leader in parliament poll” (Oct 26, 2026)
