Serbia's veteran leader Vucic concedes snap election to student-led protest movement

Serbia's long-serving leader Aleksandar Vucic has conceded defeat to a student-led protest movement in snap parliamentary elections, a stunning reversal for the right-wing populist who has dominated the country's politics for years.

"We still do not have final results.. it is clear that we have lost these elections," Vucic said as he conceded late on Sunday. He made the announcement at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the capital, Belgrade.

Preliminary figures from Serbia's election commission pointed to a record high turnout, with 64.9% of voters having cast their ballots by 18:00 local time (17:00 GMT), two hours before polls were due to close. Commentators had suggested that a large turnout would favour the student movement.

Vucic had called the early election after two years of protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 people and was widely seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in the country.

The veteran ruler had already served two terms as president and was barred from seeking a third. He instead led his party into the vote with the aim of returning to the post of prime minister, which he left in 2017.

As the scale of the result sank in, celebrations erupted on the streets of Belgrade, with people dancing and chanting "victory", cars honking their horns and fireworks being set off. "Serbia is free," one student told the BBC. "It's a miracle."

The Student List, which has no obvious leaders and whose members are not used to politics, attracted anti-government voters from across Serbia. It fielded candidates for the 250-member parliament drawn from across society, including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities.

"This will be a free state," its lead candidate, cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, said in a statement to BBC Serbian as the outcome became clear. He said the movement hoped to "free the country from tyranny."

The anti-corruption movement campaigned on a manifesto that included purging officials who broke rules while cracking down on protesters, stopping party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and freeing the public broadcaster of political control. Vucic and the SNS have repeatedly denied corruption.

Vucic, who backs Serbia's candidacy for the European Union while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had pledged to raise pensions and public sector salaries and to increase investment in state healthcare.