Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to resign within weeks after 18 months of protests
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told a rally of supporters in Belgrade on Saturday that he would resign within weeks, triggering early presidential and parliamentary elections, following a year-and-a-half of student-led anti-corruption protests.
The announcement
On 27 June, at a pro-government rally in Belgrade, President Aleksandar Vučić told thousands of supporters his time in office was near its end. “I will be president for only a couple of weeks, and then I will resign,” he said. He promised to help the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) win the snap elections but did not specify when he would submit his resignation or dissolve parliament, nor set an election date. A day later, Vučić clarified he had not yet formally submitted his resignation and that the constitutional deadline after a resignation is 90 days until a vote.
Roots in the Novi Sad disaster
The resignation pledge comes after 18 months of protests, the largest in Serbia’s recent history, touched off by the collapse of a railway station awning in Novi Sad in November 2024 that killed 16 people. What began as demands for accountability over the disaster broadened into a student-led movement against government corruption, mismanagement of construction projects, and media crackdowns. Demonstrators accused Vučić and his allies of violence against opponents, organised crime ties, and stifling free press. The government denies all allegations.
Polls and opposition reaction
A survey by the Faktor Plus institute, described as pro-government by Euractiv, puts the SNS at about 47 percent and the student movement at roughly 31 percent. Opposition leader Savo Manojlović, head of the Move-Change Movement, called the resignation a preemptive move.
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.
- SNS
- 47 %
- Student movement
- 31 %
A strategic exit or a genuine shift?
Analysts interpreted the move as a tactical repositioning rather than a full withdrawal from power. Florian Bieber, a professor of Southeast European politics at the University of Graz, argued that Vučić aims to remain at the helm by switching to the prime minister’s post, which he held from 2014 to 2017.
It is therefore a resignation that does not aim to leave power, but to stay in it.
Under the constitution, Vučić’s second presidential term would have run until mid-2027. By leaving early and backing a party list called “United Serbia,” he could return as head of government if the SNS wins.
International dimension
Serbia is an EU candidate country, but accession talks have largely stalled. Brussels expects Belgrade to improve rule of law, ensure free and fair elections, tackle corruption, and align foreign policy with the bloc, including sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine. Vučić, who served as information minister under Slobodan Milošević in the 1990s, has steered Serbia closer to Moscow and Beijing; he visited China in May, where he viewed humanoid robots that later danced on stage at the Belgrade rally. Student protesters planned a rally on Sunday in Kraljevo, indicating the movement is not subsiding.
