Serbian voters handed a student-led protest movement a parliamentary majority on Sunday, and Aleksandar Vucic, who has dominated the country's politics as prime minister or president since 2014, conceded defeat the same night.
Speaking on national television, Vucic said a sample of votes showed the Student List winning between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member parliament, against about 105 for his Serbian Progressive Party, Reuters reported.
A projection by pollsters CeSID and Ipsos put the student bloc at 138 seats and Vucic's party at 104, ABC News reported. Official final results are still pending.
Turnout was close to 70%. That is the highest since Yugoslavia broke apart in 1992. Lines stretched out of polling stations in cities and towns across the country, and Vucic himself waited nearly two hours to vote.
Belgrade erupted after the concession. Drivers leaned on their horns while students shouted "victory" in the streets, CBC News reported. Crowds also gathered in Novi Sad.
That is where it started. In November 2024, a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed, killing 16 people. Protesters blamed corruption and disregard for construction and safety rules, and the demonstrations grew into the biggest Serbia had seen in a generation. Vucic called the snap vote in September.
The Student List was never a conventional party, Euronews noted. It grew directly out of the protests and campaigned for an end to corruption, mass surveillance and political violence.
Brussels responded fast. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated the winners and said the EU was ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and corruption, Al Jazeera reported.
Vucic had long pledged to bring Serbia into the European Union while keeping close ties with Russia and China. Critics accused his government of eroding democratic freedoms.
Election monitors CeSID and CRTA reported incidents involving the voter roll and the secrecy of the ballot.