Serbia’s leader Aleksandar Vučić toppled from power by student-led mass protest movement | BBC News

Serbia's long-standing leader Aleksandar Vučić has admitted defeat to the student-led protest movement in snap parliamentary elections. “I is clear that we have lost these elections," the right-wing populist leader said as he conceded.

Preliminary figures provided by Serbia's election commission indicated a record high turnout, which commentators had suggested would favour the student movement.

Vučić had called the snap elections after two years of protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.

He made his announcement at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the capital Belgrade.
There were celebrations on the streets of the city, with people dancing and chanting "victory", cars honking, and fireworks set off. "Serbia is free," one student told the BBC. "It's a miracle."

The Student List - which has no obvious leaders and whose members are not used to politics - had attracted anti-government voters across Serbia.

It decided to field candidates to the 250-member parliament from across Serbian society including doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities.

"This will be a free state," its lead candidate - cardiologist Ilija Srdanović - said in a statement to BBC Serbian as the result became clear. He said the movement hoped to "free the country from tyranny".

The anti-corruption movement campaigned on a manifesto that included purging officials who broke rules cracking down on protesters, stopping party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and freeing the public broadcaster of political control.

Ben Brown presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Nick Thorpe in Belgrade.

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