President Vučić told supporters he will resign within weeks and back his SNS party in early presidential and parliamentary elections.
A year and a half of student-led anti-corruption protests, ignited by the Novi Sad canopy collapse that killed 16, forced the political shift.
Vučić gave no precise date for his departure or for dissolving parliament, a required step for early legislative polls.
Student opposition leader Savo Manojlović called the move a bid to preempt a fall and noted the protest movement now enjoys more support than Vučić.
At a pro-government rally in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić declared he would resign within weeks and support his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in early presidential and parliamentary elections. His second and final term was due to end in mid-2027.
“I will be president only for a few more weeks and then I will resign.”
Vučić provided no exact date for his departure or for the dissolution of parliament, a prerequisite for the early parliamentary vote. Both elections were originally scheduled for 2027.
The decision follows a year and a half of mass, often violent, anti-corruption demonstrations led by student activists. Anger surged after the canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed in November 2024, killing 16 people. Critics say the disaster exposed mismanagement and endemic graft in government construction projects.
Only days before Vučić’s announcement, students in Novi Sad commemorated the victims and demanded immediate general elections. Another student gathering is planned for Sunday in the south-eastern city of Kraljevo.
Opposition figures interpret the move as an attempt to regain initiative rather than a capitulation. Savo Manojlović, head of the student opposition movement ‘Kreni-Promeni’ (Start-Change), dismissed the resignation as a gambit.
“With his resignation and early elections, Vučić is trying to preempt his inevitable fall, which is coming as a result of the protests and a student movement that now enjoys greater support than he does.”
Demonstrators, opposition parties, and human rights organisations argue the railway station collapse was symptomatic of deeper governance failures and have vowed to challenge Vučić and the SNS at the ballot box.
Vučić pledged to help his party win the coming elections but left the timeline vague. The constitution requires parliamentary dissolution before a legislative vote, and the president must formally step down. Whether opposition parties can capitalise on the protest movement’s momentum remains uncertain, but the stage is now set for the most consequential political transition in Serbia in over a decade.
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After 13 years in power, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told supporters in Belgrade he will step down within weeks, clearing the way for snap presidential and parliamentary elections. The announcement comes after 18 months of anti-corruption protests triggered by a fatal canopy collapse in Novi Sad.
AI text based on reports by Ειδήσεις, iefimerida.gr, H Kαθημερινή and other publishers. Published .