France

Paris, September 28, 2026. The French press sees Aleksandar Vučić's resignation as a tactical move rather than a withdrawal. On Sunday, September 27, in front of the presidential palace in Belgrade, where his supporters were chanting his name, the Serbian head of state announced: "I am resigning from my duties as president. Tomorrow morning, I will hand over my mandate to the president of the National Assembly." The stated goal is to lead the list of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the early legislative elections on October 25, and then run for the post of Prime Minister — a position formally considered more powerful than the presidency.

French editorial offices recall that the Serbian Constitution prohibited Vučić, president since 2017 and re-elected in May 2022, from serving a third term, which was anyway due to end in May next year. The press notes that "the law did not require him to resign": the move is presented as a strategic choice, not a legal constraint. Having been in office, as president or prime minister, since 2014, the strongman of the SNS intends to remain in control by changing his title.

The articles emphasize the origin of the early election: a demand carried by the student movement born after the collapse of the Novi Sad train station canopy, which killed 16 people on November 1, 2024, and was largely attributed to corruption. The press recalls that these protests are among the largest in Serbia since the fall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, having gathered up to several hundred thousand people. The election, initially scheduled for December 2027, was brought forward in early September, Vučić citing "significant turmoil on the domestic political scene" at the time.

In substance, the articles note that the outgoing president has pardoned 49 people, including 23 convicted in connection with the protests, one of his last acts before leaving office. He says he wants to present himself "as an ordinary man, as one of the people". The presidency will temporarily fall to the president of the Parliament, Ana Brnabić, pending a presidential election. For the French press, this sequence outlines less of an alternation of power than a reorganization of Vučić's personal power, now pending the verdict of the October 25 polls, facing an still-mobilized student opposition.