DOMINANT ANGLE
Bucharest hails Vučić's downfall as the end of a fourteen-year era and figures the absolute majority of students, based on the estimates of the loser himself.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Vučić stated: "It is clear that we have lost these elections", projecting 135 to 140 seats out of 250 for the Student List and around 105 for the SNS (majority threshold: 126).
- 02
Ipsos/CeSID projection cited by G4Media: 52% and 138 seats for the Student List versus 39.3% and 104 seats for Vučić's list.
- 03
The collapse of the Novi Sad train station canopy on November 1, 2024, killed 16 people and triggered nearly two years of protests.
ANALYSIS
Bucharest, October 26, 2026. The Romanian press, from Mediafax to Digi24 and G4Media, reports on Aleksandar Vučić's defeat as a historic turning point for Serbia. On Sunday, October 25, the leader acknowledged: "We do not yet have the final results, but based on a sample, it is clear that we have lost these elections. The Student List has won." He himself quantified the balance of power: between 135 and 140 seats out of 250 for the Student List, around 105 for the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the absolute majority being set at 126. Mediafax notes that this score would allow the students to form a government on their own, while specifying that the official results were not yet known.
G4Media relays an Ipsos/CeSID projection that gives 52% of the votes and 138 seats to the Student List, against 39.3% and 104 seats to "United Serbia", Vučić's list. The media outlet recalls that he accused his rivals of lies in his speech and again suggested a form of foreign interference. Digi24 highlights a participation rate well above expectations, 41% at mid-day, 14 points more than in the previous election, and recalls that Vučić had promised to accept defeat in the event of failure.
The articles put the vote into perspective: the collapse of the Novi Sad train station canopy on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people, triggered nearly two years of protests against corruption and the opacity of public contracts. Mediafax describes the Student List as a decentralized movement, without a leader, whose list is headed by a cardiologist and includes professors, doctors, actors, and farmers. Digi24 sees it as "the greatest threat" to Vučić since his arrival as Prime Minister in 2014.
The street occupies a notable place: G4Media, citing Agerpres and AFP, describes horns and crowds in Belgrade, and reports the phrase of Ilija Srdanović, from the Student List: "We will never again have a tyrant in this country." A local angle also appears: according to the BBC, as reported by G4Media, dubious electoral advertisements on Facebook involved a company from Craiova that had already worked for Victor Ponta, with 56 pages and at least 91 ads, of which Meta removed 47.
