DOMINANT ANGLE
London has ruled: the defeat of Aleksandar Vučić brings an end to fourteen years of domination by a strongman and opens a new political era in Serbia.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Vučić said he lost: the Student List would have between 135 and 140 seats out of 250, the SNS around 105 (The Independent).
- 02
Turnout reached nearly 70%, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992 (The Independent).
- 03
Vučić attributed the defeat to independent media, European interference, and an "American deep state" (Daily Mail).
ANALYSIS
London, 26 October 2026. The British press is talking about a "seismic political shift" in the Balkans: on Sunday, 25 October, Aleksandar Vučić acknowledged the defeat of his Serbian Progressive Party against the Student List in early legislative elections. The Daily Mail describes a vote that became a referendum between the SNS, described as right-wing, and the Student List, led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic. The newspaper recalls that Vučić, supported by Vladimir Putin, denounced the student movement as a foreign-led attempt to oust him, and that he has ruled the country with "virtually absolute" power for fourteen years.
The BBC, in a continuously updated dispatch, quotes the leader: "it is clear that we have lost these elections". It presents him as a right-wing populist and long-time leader, recalls that the crisis was born out of the collapse in 2024 of the Novi Sad train station canopy, which killed 16 people and symbolized corruption and negligence, and notes a record turnout.
The Independent emphasizes the entry into a new era: participation close to 70%, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, long lines in front of polling stations, streets of Belgrade in jubilation where students chant "victory" and "he's finished". It quotes Radomir Sajcic, a professor at the University of Belgrade: "Tonight we celebrate the victory, tomorrow we build the future." The daily newspaper links nearly two years of protests to accusations of corruption and authoritarian drift.
The figures are Vučić's own, based on preliminary results: between 135 and 140 seats for the Student List, 105 for the SNS, with no other party entering Parliament. The Daily Mail notes that he attributed the defeat to independent media, interference from unnamed European countries, and a "deep American state", while calling on his supporters to avoid "deaths" in the street.
The British coverage remains focused on the fall of a strongman and the political transition, rather than on the consequences for Belgrade's European or Russian orientation, which the three articles barely address beyond Putin's stated support for Vučić.
