Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on June 27 that he would step down from the presidency within a matter of weeks and called for early presidential and parliamentary elections, a move that came against the backdrop of student-led protests that have rolled through the Balkan country for some 18 months.
Speaking before several thousand supporters at a rally of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) outside the National Assembly building in central Belgrade, Vucic said he would serve “only a few more weeks” as head of state before tendering his resignation. He did not specify the exact date of his departure, nor did he indicate when parliament would be dissolved, a procedural step required before any snap legislative vote can be called. He had said earlier in June that a presidential election would be organised within three to four months.
Vucic, who first won the presidency in April 2017 and secured a second term in May 2022, is currently in his second and constitutionally final term as president. Under the Serbian constitution, the head of state serves a five-year term and may be re-elected only once. His mandate had been due to run until the middle of 2027. He told the crowd it might be the last time he addressed such a large gathering as president, while pledging to campaign for SNS in the upcoming votes.
The resignation announcement followed more than 18 months of demonstrations triggered by the November 2024 collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, in the country’s north, which killed 16 people. The disaster fuelled accusations of corruption and negligence in major state infrastructure projects, and the original demand for accountability has since broadened into a wider call for early national elections and curbs on the consolidation of executive power.
At the rally, Vucic accused protest organisers and opposition figures of seeking to “destroy” the country and of acting in coordination with foreign actors. Leaders of the student movement reject those characterisations. Savo Manojlovic, who heads the activist group Move-Change, said the early-election plan was an attempt by the authorities to consolidate their position before public support for the protest movement could translate into a clearer electoral threat.
Polling published in the run-up to the announcement suggested that SNS remains the strongest single political force in Serbia, with surveys placing the party’s support at roughly 40 to 47 percent, well ahead of a fragmented opposition that has yet to coalesce around a single challenger. SNS and its allies have dominated successive national elections since 2012.
The Serbian presidency is a largely ceremonial office under the country’s constitution, with executive authority resting primarily with the prime minister. Vucic served as prime minister between April 2014 and May 2017 before moving to the presidency, and has not ruled out returning to that post. Analysts have suggested that, should SNS perform strongly in the snap ballots, his resignation could pave the way for him to take up the premiership again or another senior role within the party structure. Radivoje Grujic, a Warsaw-based analyst, said the move did not signal a departure from politics but rather a recalibration of how Vucic exercises influence.
In his speech, Vucic also restated key planks of Serbia’s foreign policy. He reiterated that Belgrade would continue to pursue European Union membership while preserving what he described as military neutrality and political independence, and that the country intended to maintain its long-standing ties with Russia and China. Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2012 but has consistently declined to align with Western sanctions against Moscow, a balancing act that has drawn criticism from Brussels and continues to shape the diplomatic debate around any future government.
The Serbian Progressive Party has not yet announced its candidate for the presidential race, and no date has been set for either election. Markets and diplomatic observers will be watching closely for the formal dissolution of parliament, which would set the official campaign timetable in motion.
