Serbians cast ballots on Sunday in an early national election that surveys say is too close to call, with the governing SNS of Aleksandar Vucic facing the possibility of losing its hold after more than ten years. The challenger drawing most attention is the Students’ List, a recently created group with strong backing among young voters that grew out of the large student-led protest wave. Polling ends at 8 p.m. local (1900 GMT). The contest is being followed closely across Europe because it may change the course of a country seeking EU membership.
- Key Point: Sunday’s vote is a narrow contest between the SNS and the Students’ List, a new youth-supported force born from mass student demonstrations.
- Key Point: The SNS triumphed in the 2012 parliamentary election and has been the central force in Serbian politics since; Vucic became premier in 2014 and head of state in 2017.
- Key Point: Vucic scheduled an early election last month and resigned the presidency to compete for prime minister; Serbia’s basic law bars a third presidential term, and his second was set to finish in May 2027.
- Key Point: The campaign has been shaped by the fatal 2024 fall of a railway station roof in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people and fuelled anger over claims of graft, shoddy building work and scant responsibility for public projects; the authorities reject the allegations.
From a deadly collapse to a national challenge
The protest wave started after a canopy at a Novi Sad train station came down in 2024. Sixteen people died. The tragedy generated wide anger about claims of corruption, weak building standards and limited accountability for infrastructure paid for by the public. Demonstrators blamed official tolerance of graft and patronage for endangering the public; the state denies this.
What began with college students organising roadblocks and marches expanded as teachers, farmers and other groups joined. A call for justice after the tragedy became a wider assault on Vucic’s hold on power. The demonstrations turned into the biggest mobilisation in Serbia since Slobodan Milosevic was toppled in 2000. The student-led campaign later tried to convert street mobilisation into votes, creating the Students’ List and portraying itself as a choice distinct from the government and the old opposition.
Vucic’s long tenure under scrutiny
The SNS won the 2012 parliamentary vote and has remained the country’s dominant party. Vucic’s own tenure started when he became premier in 2014; he moved to the presidency three years later. Having scheduled an early election last month, he resigned the head of state role and is now competing for the premiership. His second presidential term was set to end in May 2027, and the constitution prevents a third.
Detractors say he has centralised authority, damaged independent journalism and eroded democratic bodies. Vucic and the SNS reject such claims. The election is also being watched in Europe. Serbia holds EU candidate status, yet its path to membership has been slowed by worries about democracy and legal norms. Vucic has kept strong links to Russia and has not joined Western penalties imposed on Moscow after the Ukraine invasion. The ballot occurs half a year after Peter Magyar won in Hungary, beating Viktor Orban, an ally of Vucic.
What the result will be measured against
The outcome will be read in Brussels and across the region. A strong result for the Students’ List would show that a movement born from the Novi Sad disaster has turned public anger into a serious electoral force. A clear SNS win would let Vucic argue that the protest wave did not produce enough votes to remove his party. Either way, the election tests whether a campaign built around accountability and public safety can reshape a system the SNS has controlled for more than a decade.
The consequences extend beyond Serbia’s borders. Its EU path has already been slowed by concerns about the judiciary, democratic standards and rule of law, and the vote will be read as a signal about whether those worries are likely to be addressed. Vucic’s refusal to align with Western sanctions on Russia has made Serbia an unusual case in Europe, balancing EU ambitions with close ties to Moscow. The ballot also follows Peter Magyar’s win in Hungary, where he beat Vucic ally Viktor Orban, adding regional significance.
For now, the race is close enough that the size of each camp’s support, rather than any single policy promise, may decide the outcome. The SNS is seeking to extend a tenure that began with its 2012 parliamentary win and continued through Vucic’s rise to prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017. The Students’ List is trying to prove that the protest movement can move from the streets into institutions. The count will reveal whether a movement sparked by a deadly collapse can turn moral outrage into political power, or whether Vucic’s party can once again prevail.
Editing: Natalie Muller.