Serbian President Vucic to resign within weeks, calls snap elections after months of protests
Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said Saturday he will resign within weeks and hold early presidential and parliamentary elections, bowing to months of student-led anti-corruption protests. He had been due to serve until mid-2027.
Resignation announcement
Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic told supporters at a rally in Belgrade on Saturday that he would step down within weeks, triggering early presidential and parliamentary elections. He did not specify a date for his departure or for the dissolution of parliament, a procedural prerequisite for the ballot. Vucic, who has led Serbia for 13 years, is serving a second term that would have ended in mid-2027. He pledged to campaign for his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the snap vote.
I will be president for only a couple of weeks, and then I will resign.
A movement born from tragedy
The decision follows 18 months of anti-government protests that began after a station canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station in November 2024, killing 16 people. Student-led demonstrators argue the disaster exposed systemic corruption and mismanagement in public construction projects. The movement broadened into demands for accountability and early elections. Days ago, students in Novi Sad held a commemoration; another rally is planned for Sunday in Kraljevo, in the country's southeast.
Opposition reaction
Savo Manojlovic, who heads the student-backed Move-Change Movement, said Vucic's resignation was an attempt to get ahead of his inevitable fall.
By resigning and with early presidential and parliamentary elections Vucic is trying to preempt his inevitable fall, because of protests and because of the student movement which has more support than he does.
Opposition parties and activists accuse the government of violence against opponents, links to organised crime, and stifling media freedoms – charges Vucic and his aides deny.
European Union stakes
Serbia is an EU candidate country, but Brussels has tied any progress to improvements in rule of law, free and fair elections, and the fight against corruption. The bloc also expects Belgrade to align its foreign policy with EU sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
