Serbia's long-serving leader Aleksandar Vucic has conceded defeat to a student-led protest movement in a parliamentary election that ends 14 years of his dominance and opens a new political era in the Balkan country. "It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won," Vucic said in a televised speech on Sunday, October 25, 2026.
The result
Based on preliminary projections cited by Vucic himself, the youth-backed Students' List will take between 135 and 140 seats in Serbia's 250-member Parliament, while his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) will hold around 105. No other party entered parliament, according to those projections. Serbia's 6.4 million voters were electing lawmakers in a snap election Vucic called in September.
Within moments of the concession, the streets of Belgrade erupted. Tens of thousands of people filled the capital's main boulevards, with cars honking, people dancing and students shouting "victory" and "he's done." "That is the best thing that happened in my life. We will now breathe freely," Milica, a law student, told Reuters. "Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard," said Radomir Sajcic, a Belgrade University professor speaking on behalf of the students. "Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future."
How students got here
The movement began almost two years ago after 16 people died when a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024. Students accused the government of corruption and creeping authoritarianism, charges Vucic has denied, and built a popular following across the country. Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president since 2014 and was endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, denounced the movement as a foreign-led attempt to unseat him.
In conceding, Vucic blamed Serbia's independent media, unnamed European countries and what he called an "American deep state" for the loss. His supporters argue he delivered strong economic growth and stability, and that the student movement's broad coalition — lawyers, professors, actors and farmers among its 250 candidates — has yet to prove it can govern. Critics of Vucic argue the election itself is the answer to that doubt: a peaceful, democratic transfer of power after two years of protest.
What happens next
European leaders congratulated the Student List, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said the European Union stood ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and corruption, and to advance Serbia's EU future. Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset welcomed Vucic's acceptance of the result and commitment to a peaceful transition.
Commentators have noted the parallel with Hungary, where Viktor Orban was defeated in April, and suggested Serbia's students could offer a blueprint for other student movements across Europe. The harder test starts now: turning a protest movement into a government, holding its diverse coalition together, and delivering on the anti-corruption promises that carried it to power.
Watch: Belgrade streets celebrate on election night as Vucic concedes defeat.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Movement Proposition (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Reuters, CNN, The Straits Times.