Serb veteran ousted from power by student movement

MIMICKING PUTIN: Aleksander Vucic stepped down as president and called a snap poll, hoping to return as prime minister — like the Russian president did before

Serbian longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat in a snap vote, handing victory to a student-led movement that built mass support by pledging to fight graft and reverse democratic backsliding.

The Student List won 53 percent of the vote, according to nearly complete results released yesterday, compared with 39 percent for Vucic. The outcome marks a fall from power for a veteran politician who dominated the country for more than a decade and balanced close ties with Russia, China, the US and Europe.

However, it was a grassroots protest movement sparked by an outrage over a deadly construction disaster that became his undoing. By resigning as president last month and calling the election, Vucic hoped to return as prime minister. His plan, which mimicked his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, backfired amid the highest election turnout in 33 years.

A man looks at burnt-out vehicles in a park used as a camp by supporters of the right-wing Serbian Progressive Party, where tents and vehicles were set on fire by celebrating crowds after Aleksandar Vucic, the party leader conceded defeat in the parliamentary election, held on Sunday, in Belgrade yesterday.

Photo: AP

The nation is now headed for an unprecedented redrawing of its political spectrum with a pro-

European parliament, an extensive review of deals and policies, as well as potential probes into the ruling elite. It remains to be seen how that revamp would play out as the Students List has operated without a distinct leader and is yet to announce its candidate for prime minister.

“You can have a movement without a name to topple an autocrat, but you cannot run a country that way,” said Florian Bieber, professor of Southeast European studies at the University of Graz. “Now it’s a different world for them, and that’s a big demand.”

On the election night, the movement was late with a victory speech, as its representatives could not decide who would speak on their behalf.

“This is the victory of the conviction that Serbia can and will do better,” said Radomir Saicic, one of the movement’s leaders.

“We call on all citizens to act peacefully and in dignified manner. We didn’t fight for months to lose it,” he added.

Vucic, 56, is the second longtime leader to lose power in eastern Europe this year, following the ouster of his ally, Viktor Orban, in Hungary six months ago.

The former president told his supporters 90 minutes after polls closed that the Student List won the ballot with the “direct support from some European countries and the American deep state, the one that is also against” US President Donald Trump.

He called the movement “just contractors doing some very dirty work,” without providing evidence for his claims.

Vucic pledged to make a comeback, saying: “I’ll defeat them much sooner than they think.”

Vucic called the election more than a year ahead of schedule after unrelenting anti-government rallies, triggered by the collapse of a train station canopy that killed 16 people in 2024.

University students spearheaded the protests, blaming corruption and incompetence among ruling officials for the deaths.