Serbian student-led movement defeats Vucic in parliamentary election

On Sunday, Serbian leader Aleksandar Vucic admitted defeat in a parliamentary election. A student-led group called Students Win took between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament. Vucic's party won around 105 seats.

More people voted than in any election for over thirty years. Vucic had called the snap election in September after months of nationwide protests. Those protests began when a roof collapsed at a train station in 2024, killing 16 people. Many Serbs blamed government corruption for the disaster.

Vucic has ruled Serbia for years using authoritarian methods. The student movement accused his government of corruption and weakening democracy. In his concession speech, Vucic congratulated his opponents but claimed, without evidence, that they had received money from abroad.