Serbia's veteran leader Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in snap parliamentary elections to a student-led anti-corruption movement on Sunday, ending nearly two decades of dominance by his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
"It is clear that we have lost these elections," Vučić said late Sunday as preliminary results became available. He had called the snap vote after two years of protests sparked by the collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad in 2023, which killed 16 people and was widely seen as a symbol of state corruption and negligence.
Vučić had completed two terms as president and sought to return to prime minister through his party's performance. The Student List, which fielded candidates including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities, ran on a platform to purge corrupt officials, remove party loyalists from state enterprises and free the public broadcaster from political control.
The election drew record turnout. Serbia's election commission reported 64.9% participation by 6 p.m. local time, two hours before polls closed. Long queues formed at polling stations across Serbia and at Serbian communities abroad in cities including Paris, Munich, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Celebrations erupted across Belgrade and Novi Sad after Vučić's concession. People danced in streets, honked car horns and set off fireworks. "Serbia is free. It's a miracle," one student told the BBC. Another celebrant, Selena Lebovic, told Reuters the result was "really fabulous" and that "we couldn't believe that it would be so easy."
Student List leading candidate Ilija Srdanović said the movement hoped to "free the country from tyranny" and pledged "a free state." Fellow candidate Radomir Saicic told supporters that citizens had shown "no obstacle was greater than their will" and that "no force can forever overpower a people who have decided to take their destiny into their own hands."
The Student List has no formal leadership structure and comprises members with no prior political experience. It attracted anti-government voters across the country campaigning against corruption. The SNS and Vučić have repeatedly denied corruption allegations. Vučić backs Serbian EU membership while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.