Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic Faces Biggest Test as Students Demand Elections

Aleksandar Vucic stepped down as Serbia’s president in September and is now seeking the prime minister’s post in a parliamentary election widely viewed as one of the country’s most fiercely contested votes in years.

“This is unquestionably the greatest test the former president has faced during his 14 years at the center of Serbian politics,” Helena Ivanov, an associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told News Outlet.

Ivanov said the student-led protest movement had succeeded in winning broad public support and sustaining its momentum—something Serbia’s established opposition had failed to accomplish.

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Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric said he considers a victory by the student opposition highly improbable.

“The people of Serbia have seen through them,” Djuric told News Outlet. “After years of criticism, they have still failed to convince the public that they have a credible platform or a serious vision for the country’s future.”

Djuric pointed to Serbia’s economic performance under Vucic, as well as the Strategic Dialogue with the United States, which he said could expand bilateral cooperation and create fresh opportunities for Serbian citizens.

In an exclusive interview with News Outlet in June, before leaving the presidency, Vucic cited Serbia’s economic expansion as proof of the country’s transformation. “When I became prime minister, our GDP was 32 billion euros,” he said. “This year, it will exceed 100 billion euros, or about $120 billion.” Vucic first served as prime minister in 2014 and became president in 2017.

During that interview, Vucic also said ties between Washington and Belgrade were increasingly focused on trade, investment and technology, along with what he described as shared conservative values.

A bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., introduced the Supporting the Rule of Law, Building Institutional Justice, and Accountability Act, known as SRBIJA. The measure seeks to counter democratic backsliding in Serbia, strengthen accountability and the rule of law, and improve the government’s treatment of student-led civic demonstrations.

Under the legislation, future U.S. assistance would depend on a presidential certification that Serbia had made “significant and sustained” progress on judicial accountability, media freedom and closer alignment with the European Union and NATO.

The bipartisan lawmakers—including Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Rep. William Keating, D-Mass.—also criticized Vucic’s record and his prolonged dominance of Serbian politics.

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Members of Congress and election observers are increasingly warning that the campaign is unfolding in a hostile political climate, with efforts to discredit and weaken the vote already appearing to take shape.

There are also concerns that the government could refuse to accept the result if the student-backed Student List emerges victorious.

Vucic had held the presidency since 2017, following a term as prime minister from 2014 to 2017. Because the constitution barred him from serving another presidential term, his resignation opened a path for him to retain political power by seeking the premiership once again.

He resigned as president and dissolved parliament in September, triggering the snap parliamentary election scheduled for Oct. 25.

Throughout his time in office, Vucic has attempted to balance Serbia’s relationships with East and West. He has pursued European backing and began EU accession talks in 2014, while continuing to maintain close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin—even after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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Unlike previous elections, the student-led opposition garnered significant attention to their cause and mobilized popular support, becoming a legitimate political contender out of a spontaneous protest movement.

Serbia has been roiled by student-led anti-corruption protests since November 2024, demanding justice and accountability after the deaths of 16 people following the collapse of a railway station in the town of Novi Sad. One of the largest protests in Serbia’s history took place on March 15, 2025, with nearly 350,000 people gathered in Slavija Square in central Belgrade.

The protesters criticized the Vucic government for failing to hold anyone accountable for the canopy disaster as the government continued its heavy-handed crackdown on demonstrators. None of the original demands of the protesters were met, so the students turned to electoral politics to enact change the Serbian political opposition was never able to achieve.

The Student List, as the opposition is known, consists of a wide swath of civil society actors, many of whom come from the ranks of academia, but does not include anyone from Serbia’s traditional opposition parties that struggled to challenge Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party in the past.

The group operates in a decentralized manner and does not have an official leader. Their main priorities are to tackle corruption and promote transparency and the rule of law.

Filip Ubović, a student from the University of Belgrade and protest participant on the ground in Belgrade, has spoken with News Outlet over the course of the year-long protests.

Ubović said he joined the protests because he was fed up with the current state of his country. This was the first opportunity, Ubovic said, to do something tangible, instead of just complaining.

“People had enough for quite some time but decided to fully embrace us because we are ‘their kids’, we are young, we are not professional politicians, we do not have a single face representing us, and we are very professional and principled,” Ubovic said.

Ivana Stradner of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told News Outlet that corruption has held back democracy in the Balkans and progress for its people for a while.

“Corruption doesn’t just steal public money; it steals an entire generation’s future. Young people in Serbia and Albania are taking to the streets demanding accountability and a better future. The U.S. should pay attention, not out of charity, but strategic self-interest,” Stradner said.

The test will be whether the Student List can transition their popular mobilization in the streets into a viable political option that can win an election and govern a country that hasn’t undergone a political transition in over a decade.

It’s also unclear, if the Student List were to win, how they might reorient Serbia’s foreign policy and its relations with the U.S.

“So far, the students have been remarkably reluctant to define foreign policy goals that would depart from the current government’s course. For now, the most realistic expectation is continuity,” Sinisa Vukovic, director of the Global Policy Program at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told News Outlet.

Vuković said that Serbia’s foreign policy has remained mostly consistent dating back to Slobodan Milosevic, the former leader of Yugoslavia, and the Vucic government has left hot-button issues including the crisis over Kosovo and EU membership mostly unresolved.

While much might change in Serbia domestically, any resolution to the conflict with Kosovo or any substantial reorientation of foreign policy that shifts Serbia away from Russia and moves it much closer to the U.S. and EU remains unclear.

“Another period of pseudo-hedging is likely, with Russia keeping a deep presence in the most vital sectors and dominating most of them,” Vukovic added.