Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia's long-standing leader, conceded defeat in snap parliamentary elections to a student-led protest movement on Sunday night. "It is clear that we have lost these elections," the right-wing populist said as preliminary results showed record turnout at 64.9%.
Vučić had called the elections after two years of protests following the collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people in 2023, an event seen as emblematic of widespread corruption and negligence. He served two terms as president and could not seek a third, so led his Serbian Progressive Party with hopes of returning to the office of prime minister, which he left in 2017.
The Student List, an anti-corruption movement with no established leadership, fielded candidates drawn from across Serbian society including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities. Its lead candidate Ilija Srdanović told BBC Serbian: "This will be a free state." He said the movement hoped to "free the country from tyranny."
Celebrations erupted across Serbia following Vučić's concession. Streets filled with people dancing and chanting "victory", cars honking, and fireworks lighting up cities including Belgrade and Novi Sad. "Serbia is free. It's a miracle," one student told the BBC. Selena Lebovic said the result was "really fabulous," adding: "We are all crying, and what to say. We couldn't believe that it would be so easy."
Student List candidate Radomir Saicic told supporters during celebrations that Serbians had shown "no obstacle was greater than their will" and that "no force can forever overpower a people who have decided to take their destiny into their own hands."
The Student List campaigned on a manifesto that included purging officials who broke rules or cracked down on protesters, stopping party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and removing political control from the public broadcaster. Vučić and the SNS party have repeatedly denied corruption allegations.
Record turnout at polling stations reflected engagement across Serbian communities abroad, with long queues reported in Ljubljana, Munich, Paris, Los Angeles and Chicago.