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Europe Serbia votes with ruling party facing ascendant student movement 25 Oct 2026
· Confirmed
In Short: The Students' List's victory marks a significant shift in Serbia's political landscape, with the movement projected to have 141 seats in the new parliament, well clear of the 126 required for a majority.
Serbian voters elected lawmakers to the 250-member Parliament on Sunday, with the Students' List, a youth-backed movement, emerging victorious over the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by Aleksandar Vucic. Vucic conceded defeat, projecting that his party will secure around 105 seats while the Students' List will take between 135 and 140 seats, according to his concession speech.
Vucic, who had been in power for 14 years and endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, acknowledged the loss but blamed Serbia's independent media and alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an 'American deep state.' He said his party won around 1.7 million votes compared to the Students' List's 2.2 million votes.
The Students' List, which began as a protest movement following the Novi Sad rail station disaster in November 2024, has accused the government of corruption and neglect. The movement's victory marks a significant shift in Serbia's political landscape, as it has been campaigning for a more democratic and transparent government.
Supporters of the Students' List celebrated the results, driving around Belgrade in cars, honking horns, singing, and chanting, 'Aleksandar is gone,' referring to Vucic. The movement's leader, Ilija Srdanovic, a physician, said, 'We are moving toward a more-civilized and better Serbia.'
The Students' List's victory is a result of widespread protests that have accused the government of corruption and ruling for those in power rather than the people. The movement has gained significant support across the country, pushing for early elections and a more democratic government.
In conceding the election, Vucic said his party projects that the Students' List will take between 135 and 140 seats while his SNS party will have around 105. The latest version of the Ipsos/CeSID poll, updated with the partial results, gives the Student List 141 out of 250 seats in the new parliament with 52.9% of the vote share.
The Students' List's victory marks a significant shift in Serbia's political landscape, with the movement projected to have 141 seats in the new parliament, well clear of the 126 required for a majority. Vucic's concession speech was met with mixed reactions, with some supporters of the Students' List expressing relief and others calling for accountability.
Background
Serbia held a parliamentary election on Sunday, with a student-led movement challenging the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, according to reports from AFP and France24 (France).
Serbia held a parliamentary election on Sunday, with high turnout expected among the 6.4 million registered voters.
What's confirmed
- She said "we are all too happy, finally we are becoming one normal and free country."
- Serbia's 6.4 million voters were electing lawmakers to the 250-member Parliament.
- In conceding the election, Vucic said his party projects that his opponents, the youth-backed Students' List, will take between 135 and 140 seats while his SNS party will have around 105.
- It was a seismic political shift in the Balkan country where Vucic, who had been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and who denounced the student movement as a foreign-led attempt to unseat him, led with virtually absolute power for 14 years.
- Vucic said that his SNS party won around 1.7 million votes compared to the Students' List, which he said took around 2.2 million.
- "Now I expect that they will all be held accountable," she said.
- "It is now clear that we have lost and the Students' List has won," Vucic told supporters at his party's election night event, though he blamed Serbia's independent media as well as alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an "American deep state" for the loss.
- "means liberation for me, means a new future for us and our children."
- "It is about people who believed and continued to fight," he said.
- Sobbing, Hrka told N1 television: "I have been waiting for this moment for two years."
- Radomir Saicic, a Students' List candidate, said "tonight is not just about results."
- Vucic was seeking become Serbia's prime minister after serving two near-full terms as president.
What's still developing
- "This is a victory over fear...it is nobody's trophy, it is a citizens victory. But victory carries responsibility."
- High turnout and gathering tensions marked the highly contested parliamentary election that was a showdown between Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party and university students who, accusing the government of corruption and dismantling democracy, had built a popular following across the country.
- AMY GOODMAN : For more, we go to Belgrade, Serbia, where we’re joined by Lela Vujanić.
- Unorthodox campaign is challenging the ruling party’s 14-year reign with a bold democratic experiment Unorthodox campaign is challenging the ruling party’s 14-year reign with a bold democratic experiment O n a cool autumn evening, a team of Serbian student volunteers went canvassing in the housing estates of Krnjača, a Belgrade suburb.
- For more on the results from Serbia and how this result is echoing around the world, we turn again to Heather Conley.
- But he called snap elections in September after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.