# 2026 Serbian Parliamentary Election The snap election of **25 October 2026** ended fourteen years of rule by [[Aleksandar Vučić]] and his [[Serbian Progressive Party]]. A list of candidates put forward by the [[Serbian Student Movement]], the protest movement that grew out of the [[Novi Sad Canopy Collapse]], won an outright majority of the 250-seat National Assembly. Vučić had resigned the presidency a month earlier to run for prime minister. He conceded on election night, before any official figure had been published. ## Result Preliminary count of the Republic Electoral Commission, published 26 October from 8,187 polling stations (Serbia has about 8,400): | List | Votes | Share | Seats (of 250) | |---|---|---|---| | **Student List** | 2,267,615 | **52.71%** | **140** | | Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia (SNS-led) | 1,685,022 | 39.17% | 104 | | Ivica Dačić – Factor of Stability (Socialists) | 93,280 | 2.17% | 0 — below the 3% threshold | | Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians | 34,762 | 0.81% | 2 | | Albanian Coalition | 27,670 | 0.64% | 2 | | Rasim Ljajić – Humane | 20,544 | 0.48% | 1 | | SDA of Sandžak | 12,399 | 0.29% | 1 | Turnout was **68.78%**, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia. A government needs 126 seats. > [!warning] These are preliminary figures > As of 31 October 2026 the electoral commission had not announced a final, certified result, and repeat voting had been ordered at a small number of polling stations. Earlier counts gave slightly different numbers (52.5% to 39.3% with about 96% counted, and a projected 140 to 103 seats), which is why outlets quote a range. The overall result is not in doubt. The exact seat split may still move by one or two. Minority lists face no 3% threshold in Serbia, which is how lists with under 1% of the vote win seats. The system is proportional, with the whole country as one constituency, so seats track votes closely. The winner gets no bonus. ## How the election came about | Date | Event | |---|---| | **1 Nov 2024** | The [[Novi Sad Canopy Collapse]] kills 16 people and sets off nationwide student protests | | **May 2025** | Snap parliamentary elections become a formal student demand | | **28 Dec 2025** | Students collect signatures in more than 100 cities demanding early elections | | **Late Dec 2025** | Vučić says he will call parliamentary elections in 2026, a year ahead of schedule | | **5 Sep 2026** | The SNS nominates Vučić as its candidate for prime minister and head of its list | | **14 Sep 2026** | The student-backed list is submitted to the electoral commission | | **27 Sep 2026** | Vučić resigns as president, eight months before his second and final term was due to end. Assembly Speaker [[Ana Brnabić]] becomes acting president | | **7 Oct 2026** | Thirteen members and deputy members of the electoral commission, among them the Student List's representatives, walk out of a session that changed the rules for polling stations abroad | | **25 Oct 2026** | Election day. Vučić concedes that night | The resignation was meant to move Vučić to the office with more formal power. The constitution barred him from a third presidential term. As prime minister he could have stayed in charge beyond 2027. It also made a parliamentary vote into a referendum on him personally, with his name at the top of the ballot. ## The campaign The playing field was tilted in the ways described under [[Illiberal Democracy]] and [[Media Capture]]. The election monitor [[CRTA]] found that national television gave government representatives roughly three-quarters of political airtime, and that coverage of the Student List was overwhelmingly negative. The day after the vote, the provincial public broadcaster in Vojvodina opened its evening news with an apology to its own viewers for years of one-sided reporting. That episode is on [[Serbia]]. The Student List did not name a prime-ministerial candidate. Its 250 candidates were largely unknown: professors, doctors, farmers, actors and other professionals. None were students, and none were career politicians. The first name on the list was **Ilija Srdanović**, a cardiologist and professor at the University of Novi Sad's medical faculty. ## Election night Vučić spoke before the commission had released any figures. "It is clear that we have lost these elections," he said, and put the Student List at 135 to 140 seats against about 105 for his own list. The count that followed came close to his numbers. He then blamed the defeat on "the deep American state, the one against President Trump," and on unnamed European governments. He called the result a "verified revolution" carried out by "executors of dirty work, which someone else designed to bring down a sovereign country." He promised a comeback: "For a moment you have succeeded. For how long, we shall see." He also said, "From tonight, we start preparing." [[Breitbart News]] ran the result under the headline "Serbia's Nationalist Leader Concedes Defeat to 'Deep State'-Backed Student Movement, Vows to Return." The American angle behind that line is followed on [[Serbian Influence]]. ## Reactions - **European Union:** European Council President António Costa congratulated the Student List and said the result could help Serbia toward EU membership. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen offered support for reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and anti-corruption. - **United States:** The White House gave no immediate reaction. Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina praised the "incredible victory" of the Serbian people. - **Russia and China:** No immediate official response was reported. Both lose their closest partner in the Western Balkans. > [!important] ⭐ The finding: the term-limit workaround became the referendum > Vučić resigned the presidency to keep power from the prime minister's office. That put his own name on a parliamentary ballot for the first time as the candidate for the top job. He made the election about himself and lost it by more than thirteen points, in a contest he had called a year early. > [!important] ⭐ The finding: a tilted field can still be outvoted > The airtime gap, the pressure on watchdogs and the control of the public broadcaster were all real, and none of them was enough. Turnout at a thirty-year high overwhelmed the advantage. It is the same lesson as Hungary in April 2026, when [[Péter Magyar]]'s [[Tisza Party]] beat [[Viktor Orbán]]. Competitive authoritarian systems survive on demobilised voters. They are most exposed when people who usually stay home turn out. ## What happens next - **Parliament** must convene within 30 days of the final result, and a government must be formed within 90 days after that. The Student List's majority means it needs no coalition partners. - **Prime minister:** As of 31 October the Student List had not named one. Srdanović is widely seen as the most likely choice. - **Presidency:** Acting President Ana Brnabić must call an early presidential election, to be held by **27 December 2026**. The office is directly elected but largely ceremonial. - **Energy:** Serbia's only oil refinery belongs to NIS, which is majority Russian-owned and under US sanctions. It has run on a series of temporary US operating licences, and the current one was due to expire on 30 October 2026, with NIS applying for another. The stopgap gas arrangement with Russia runs out on 31 December. The Student List has said it will keep Serbia's refusal to join sanctions on Russia, and on [[Kosovo]] it is as hardline as the outgoing government. ## See Also - [[Serbia]] · [[Aleksandar Vučić]] · [[Serbian Student Movement]] · [[Serbian Progressive Party]] · [[Novi Sad Canopy Collapse]] · [[Ana Brnabić]] · [[Serbian Influence]] · [[Illiberal Democracy]] · [[Media Capture]] · [[Democratic Backsliding]] · [[Tisza Party]] · [[International Democratic Opposition Hub]]