Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic today announced his resignation to run for Prime Minister in the legislative elections scheduled for October, marked after nearly two years of student-led demonstrations.
© Reuters
27/09/2026
by
Lusa
“ Di resign from my duties as President”, said Aleksandar Vucic in the presidential palace, before supporters, adding that on Monday he will deliver the mandate to the president of the National Assembly.
The holding of early elections was one of the main demands of a student movement born after the collapse in November 2024 of a cover at the Novi Sad railway station, which caused 16 deaths.
The tragedy, largely attributed to corruption, has triggered some of the biggest demonstrations in Serbia since the fall of Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, sometimes bringing together hundreds of thousands of people.
The initial calls for transparent research have evolved into the requirement for early elections, which Vucic had repeatedly promised, without setting a date.
The Serbian Nationalist President, invoking “important turbulence in the internal political scene,” finally announced in early September that the elections, initially scheduled for December 2027, would be held at the end of October.
Voted President for the first time in 2017 and re-elected in May 2022, Aleksandar Vucic shortened his five-year term of office to campaign for Prime Minister, although the law did not force him to resign.
“I want to apply as an ordinary man, as one of the members of the people,” he said.
Aleksandar Vucic now leads the electoral list of his party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), right-wing populist.
A few minutes before his resignation, Vucic used his constitutional powers to pardon dozens of people – including students and supporters of his party – suspected violations committed during the demonstrations.
“ I decided to pardon 49 people, 23 of whom related to the terrible events we have been through over the last year and a half,” he said, referring to the demonstrations.
Under Serbian law, the President of Parliament, Ana Brnabic, now temporarily assumes the Presidency for a maximum period of three months, during which a presidential election should be convened.