Record voter turnout delivers historic defeat for Serbia's Vucic
Voter turnout reached nearly 70%, the highest since 1992, as Serbia's student-led opposition secured a historic victory over President Aleksandar Vučić.
Serbia's Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat to a student-led protest movement on Sunday after record numbers of voters turned out.
Vucic has led the country since 2014 as both prime minister and president. The last two years have been dominated by student-led protests against corruption and authoritarianism which began after 16 people were killed when a train station canopy collapsed in 2024.
"It is clear that we have lost these elections. The Student List has won," Vucic said in a televised speech.
Belgrade's streets erupted in cheers following the announcement, while the crowd swelled into the tens of thousands with chants of "victory" and "he's done."
According to the preliminary results the Student List is projected to hold between 135 and 140 seats while Vucic's SNS will have 105 seats.
Early reports suggest turnout reached nearly 70%, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992.
It is unclear what the Student List's victory could mean for Israel. Vucic has long been considered an ally of Israel, investing heavily in Israeli defense technology development.
In September, Vucic announced plans to open a drone assembly plant in collaboration with Elbit Systems to supply Serbia with advanced equipment. Whether the plan will still go ahead is unknown.
However, the Student List declared in its manifesto that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian people in its manifesto, saying "Our people know well what it means to be a victim of genocide and ethnic cleansing, and therefore we will oppose any form of oppression of the weaker by the stronger."
"Accordingly, we will not be complicit in the systematic attempt to destroy the Palestinian people that Israel is carrying out in the Gaza Strip, and we will intensify the sending of humanitarian aid to Palestine in order to save human lives and reduce the number of victims."
Despite the clear anti-Israel position, the list is composed of an extremely broad coalition that aimed to bring together all opposition figures against the SNS. As a result, outside of its anti-corruption efforts, little else remains certain.