DOMINANT ANGLE
Buenos Aires is first taking note of the political downfall of a strongman: the Argentine press is telling the story of the end of Vučić's fourteen years of power, defeated by a student movement born out of a tragedy.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Vučić stated: "Judging by a stratified sample, it is clear that we have lost these elections," an hour and a half after the polling stations closed (La Nación).
- 02
Projection of the outgoing president: 135 to 140 seats out of 250 for the Student List and around 105 for the SNS; partial results from 750 polling stations: 52% versus 39.3% (Infobae).
- 03
The movement was born out of the collapse of the canopy of the Novi Sad train station on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people; turnout approached 70% (La Nación).
ANALYSIS
Buenos Aires, October 26, 2026. The Argentine government is closely following the situation in Serbia, where Aleksandar Vučić's defeat is being seen as a significant political shift: the Student List won the Serbian early legislative elections on Sunday, October 25, in a vote that La Nación describes as a "referendum" on his 14 years in power, with a participation rate of nearly 70%.
The story begins with the leader's admission. "Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we have lost these elections," Vučić said to his supporters at the headquarters of his party in Belgrade, an hour and a half after the polls closed and without final results. He estimated that the Student List would win 135-140 seats out of 250 and the Serbian Progressive Party around 105, giving the opposition an absolute majority. Infobae adds partial results from 750 polling stations: 52% for the Student List, or 138 seats, compared to 39.3% and 104 seats for the Aleksandar Vučić-Serbia United list. Only the Hungarian and Albanian minorities also obtained representation, with a threshold of 3%.
The Argentine press recalls Vučić's background: he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense from 2012 to 2014, then Prime Minister for three years, and has been President since 2017. He had resigned from the presidency in September to lead the ruling party's list as a candidate for Prime Minister, as the Constitution prohibits him from serving a third presidential term.
The newspaper emphasizes the origin of the movement, the collapse of the Novi Sad train station canopy on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people, a tragedy "attributed to corruption." Infobae presents the head of the list, Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist and professor in Novi Sad, and a list composed of academics, economists, lawyers, engineers, sociologists, and artists.
The EFE dispatch quotes Dejan Bodiroga, a basketball legend and candidate on the list: "We have won freedom, thanks to this youth." He sees this as an "apparent reference" to the European Union, the direction Serbia wants to take, the only international aspect of the case.
Vučić, for his part, has promised to "fight," stating that "our structure is very solid" and that "many will be surprised to see how much some have lied." The two media outlets describe him as a former president and nationalist populist leader, and do not develop the future government's program or regional issues.
SOURCES (2)
- La NaciónMEDIUM
