The former president said the student-led opposition was projected to win significantly more parliamentary seats than his party, but stressed that final results were not yet available
Published 25 Oct, 2026 20:42
| Updated 25 Oct, 2026 21:45
Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Aleksandar Vucic speaks to media on October 25, 2026 © AP / Petr David Josek
Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has acknowledged that preliminary projections from Sunday’s parliamentary elections point to a change of government, with the student-led protest movement expected to secure substantially more seats than his party.
Serbians voted on Sunday to elect a new parliament, with Vucic seeking the post of prime minister.
“There will be between 135 and 140 mandates, we have 105,” Vucic said, referring to the projected number of parliamentary seats for the student-led list and his party, respectively.
He stressed that the final results were not yet available. No official vote count had been released at the time of his remarks, and Vucic did not identify the source of his estimates, referring only to a stratified sample.
Vucic also said that no other major parties appeared to have secured seats in parliament, apart from several minority parties.
The election saw high voter turnout, with the State Election Commission reporting that 64.89% of eligible voters had cast their ballots by 18:00 GMT.
Vucic resigned on September 27 following two years of protests, saying he wanted to participate in the election as an ordinary citizen. Anti-government demonstrations erupted after the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad in 2024, which killed 16 people and sparked allegations of corruption and failures in safety oversight.
Vucic has accused foreign organizations of funding the protests, alleging on Thursday that actors abroad wanted to remove him from Serbia’s political landscape.
