Serbia’s Strongman Chief Vucic Concedes Defeat To Student-led Motion In Seismic Political Shift

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The long-serving strongman chief of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, conceded defeat on Sunday in an election that pitted him and his right-wing celebration towards a various student-led opposition motion that spent two years protesting his authorities.

It was a seismic political shift within the Balkan nation the place Vucic, who had been endorsed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and who denounced the scholar motion as a foreign-led try and unseat him, led with nearly absolute energy for 14 years.

High turnout and gathering tensions marked the extremely contested parliamentary election that was a showdown between Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party and university students who, accusing the federal government of corruption and dismantling democracy, had constructed a preferred following throughout the nation.

Serbia’s 6.4 million voters had been electing lawmakers to the 250-member Parliament. In conceding the election, Vucic mentioned his celebration tasks that his opponents, the youth-backed Students’ List, will take between 135 and 140 seats whereas his SNS celebration can have round 105.

“The Students’ List has gained,” Vucic instructed supporters at his celebration’s election night time occasion, although he blamed Serbia’s impartial media in addition to alleged interference by unnamed European nations and an ”American deep state” for the loss.

Vucic mentioned that his SNS celebration gained round 1.7 million votes in comparison with the Students’ List, which he mentioned took round 2.2 million.

Supporters of the Students’ List instantly flooded onto the streets of Belgrade and different cities, honking horns, shouting and chanting: “Aleksandar is gone,” referring to Vucic.

The consequence, which Vucic introduced solely round an hour and a half after polls closed, got here after tensions had constructed as voting progressed throughout the day.

Police in anti-riot gear cordoned off an space in central Belgrade across the election fee headquarters. Special police automobiles could possibly be seen close to a Belgrade park the place Vucic’s loyalists have been tenting for over a yr, and huge teams of black-clad males had congregated at varied factors all through the town.

Vucic was in search of to grow to be Serbia’s prime minister after serving two near-full phrases as president. He resigned the presidency final month to guide the marketing campaign.

Support for the populist had eroded since 16 individuals had been killed in 2024 when a concrete canopy collapsed at a practice station in Novi Sad. That set off a wave of youth protests that blamed the collapse on high-level corruption, cronyism and rampant graft throughout renovation work on the station.

Despite the protests, Vucic retained appreciable help amongst a lot of Serbia’s voters. Admirers considered him as a succesful chief who can steer the nation via international uncertainties — the picture that was fastidiously crafted by the mainstream media.

While the more and more authoritarian Vucic has routinely outplayed Serbia’s fractured opposition prior to now, the leaderless youth movement proved to be a tricky opponent that rattled his agency grip on energy in Serbia like nobody else within the 14 years since his celebration took workplace.

The newly fashioned Students’ List motion was formed by college college students however none truly appeared on the election record. Instead, its candidates are little-known specialists, athletes, farmers and artists.

This method was meant to counter Vucic’s one-man rule and restore a way of group and solidarity. The college students’ message throughout the marketing campaign centered on a non-partisan effort to rebuild Serbia’s macro economy and restore its democracy.

The college students have used youthful vitality to attract voters who’re disillusioned with native politicians. Vilified by pro-government media, they cycled and walked via the nation to achieve voters in rural areas — Vucic’s conventional strongholds.

The scholar victory echoed the recent electoral defeat of a Vucic ally in Hungary, the place youth participation helped oust the autocratic Viktor Orbán after 16 years and usher in a new pro-European government. It was more likely to resonate past Serbia as nations throughout Europe have confronted angry youth and student protests.

Monitors predicted that whole turnout within the election may attain round 70%, unseen in Serbia since 2000. During the day, lengthy queues fashioned at polling stations in Serbia and in cities across the planet. Some within the Serbian diaspora had been made to vote in the course of the night time after authorities tied voting hours to native Serbian time.

Recent Serbian elections had been marred by irregularities and the EU was intently watching the conduct of Sunday’s vote in a candidate nation for the bloc’s membership.

Independent election screens reported dozens of instances of irregularities on Sunday reminiscent of photographing of ballots that recommended stress on voters and tried vote shopping for.

Both cross-border and native election screens had expressed concern in regards to the security and equity of an election marketing campaign marked by detentions, near-total authorities management over the media and experiences of surveillance and cyberattacks towards activists.

Local elections earlier this yr in 10 municipalities in Serbia noticed violent assaults on journalists and activists. The earlier parliamentary vote in 2023 was adopted by opposition protests alleging fraud.