Serbia calls snap election after nearly two years of protests
President Aleksandar Vucic has dissolved parliament and set a 25 October vote, putting his Serbian Progressive Party under its strongest electoral test in more than a decade.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has dissolved parliament and called snap parliamentary elections for 25 October, bringing forward a vote that was not due until December 2027.
The election follows nearly two years of student-led anti-government and anti-corruption protests. Early elections became a central demand of the movement, which emerged after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people.
Initial calls for a transparent investigation developed into wider demands for accountability and a parliamentary vote. The protest movement, which began with student university blockades, is now preparing its own electoral list, although its electoral plans remain unsettled.
The vote will test Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party and its hold over Serbian politics. The party has asked Vucic to lead its electoral list and stand as its candidate for prime minister.
Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president for more than a decade, has accused protesters of pursuing a “foreign-funded revolution”. France 24 reported that he repeated allegations of foreign interference and said the country needed results that clearly reflected the public will.
Vucic was elected president in 2017 and re-elected in 2022. He has recently indicated he would resign after formally calling the election to campaign, signalling plans to return as prime minister. The source provides no polling data or indication of the likely result.
