Serbian President Vučić announces his resignation and early elections

At a rally of supporters in Belgrade, Aleksandar Vučić announced that he would leave the presidency in « a few more weeks », without setting an exact date, and that he would call early elections. In power since 2012, he was normally due to complete his term in mid-2027. He said he intended to remain a central political actor by supporting his party, the SNS, in the coming vote.

The announcement follows nearly eighteen months of student and citizen protests against corruption. The movement was triggered by the Novi Sad disaster of November 2024, the collapse of a railway station canopy that killed sixteen people. Pressure from the streets is identified as the direct cause of this early timetable.

Serbia's situation is distinctive: a candidate for European Union membership, it also maintains close ties with Moscow and Beijing and remains one of the few European states not to have adopted sanctions against Russia since 2022. The transition is therefore playing out in the heart of the Western Balkans, a region where political changes regularly affect the stability of neighbouring countries.

Several points remain disputed. Some actors read this departure as a tactical move, with Vučić aiming for the post of prime minister, while others emphasise above all the popular pressure. The real significance of the change also divides: should it be seen as a genuine alternation of power, or a calculated retreat at a time when previous early elections had « changed almost nothing »? The lack of a precise schedule for both the resignation and the dissolution of Parliament keeps the outcome uncertain.