Serbia's Vucic Concedes Defeat to Student-Backed List in Parliamentary Election

Aleksandar Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics since 2012, conceded defeat on Sunday in Serbia's parliamentary election to the student-backed Students' List. He said his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) projects about 105 seats in the 250-member Parliament, against 135 to 140 for the Students' List. The American Conservative put the opposition at around 140 seats and the SNS at 103. Vucic said the SNS won about 1.7 million votes and the Students' List about 2.2 million. He blamed independent media, alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an "American deep state." Some 6.4 million voters were eligible. The student movement grew out of street protests after the 2024 Novi Sad train canopy collapse, which widened into anti-corruption demonstrations lasting about two years. The Students' List named ending corruption, protecting media independence, raising living standards and improving ties with neighbors as priorities. It is not yet clear who it will nominate as prime minister, and presidential elections are due in December.

Left-leaning outlets Mother Jones and CBS News lead with Vucic's international alignments. Mother Jones stresses his ties to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, US far-right figures visiting Belgrade, a planned CPAC event in Serbia, a comparison to Viktor Orbán's defeat in Hungary, and his downplaying of 1990s war crimes. CBS calls him a Putin-backed strongman, quotes his concession and details his claim that the student movement was foreign-led. Right-leaning outlets had not reported the story at the time of writing. Al Jazeera takes a distinct angle, with analysts saying foreign policy and regional relations will change only gradually while domestic institutions come first. The American Conservative gives a short account of the result and the students' platform.