Serbia’s Vučić Steps Down, Setting Up Two Elections This Year

Belgrade (GNP): Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has resigned after more than a year of student-led protests and public anger over allegations of government corruption. The move opens the way for early elections and means Serbians will vote twice before the year ends.

Vučić announced the decision to supporters outside the presidential building in Belgrade, saying his administration had preserved peace and stability during his nine-year tenure. He had signalled his intention to step down as far back as June. His presidency was due to expire next year, and the constitution bars him from seeking a third term.

The resignation follows a protest movement that began in 2024, when the roof of the Novi Sad railway station collapsed and killed 16 people. Demonstrators saw the disaster as a symptom of more than a decade of rule by Vučić’s Progressive Party, and he had closely associated himself with the station’s renovation, which was meant to symbolise national progress. Students, teachers, workers and farmers all joined the demonstrations, which continued through this summer and turned to unrest after accusations of police brutality. A series of resignations among officials failed to calm the streets.

The election calendar reflects that pressure. A snap parliamentary vote is set for late October, called in response to the protests, which had added a demand for elections to their list. Under the constitution, a presidential election must follow within three months of a resignation, and Vučić said it would take place more than a month after the parliamentary poll.

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Vučić himself remains in the picture. He has said he will stand in the parliamentary election as leader of the Progressive Party and is seeking to become its candidate for prime minister, which could keep him at the top of Serbian politics. Until a new president is chosen, parliamentary speaker Ana Brnabić, also of the Progressive Party, will serve as interim head of state.

Before leaving office, Vučić used his constitutional powers to pardon 49 people, including 23 students and party loyalists suspected of offences linked to what he called the “terrible events we have gone through over the past year and a half.” The Progressive Party will now face the student-led anti-corruption movement Students Win and European Serbia, a coalition of pro-Western opposition parties.

The vote will test a political figure who has shaped Serbia for more than a decade. Vučić became prime minister in 2014 and was elected president in 2017. He has said he wants Serbia to join the European Union (EU) while keeping close ties with Russia and opening the country to Chinese investment.