Serbia’s snap election: What’s at stake and can students unseat Vucic?

Serbia will hold a snap parliamentary election on October 25 .The vote is seen as a test of whether President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) can extend its 14-year grip on power and stave off a student-led movement born out of mass anti-government protests.Here’s what you need to know:How did Serbia get here?In November 2024, the collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station in Novi Sad killed 16 people. What began as demands for accountability over the disaster grew into a nationwide movement against alleged corruption and the government’s handling of the tragedy.Students emerged as the movement’s driving force, organising some of Serbia’s biggest demonstrations since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic. Their campaign has channelled deep frustration with the SNS, which has governed since 2012, and with a conventional opposition seen as fragmented and ineffective.The parliamentary election was not due until late 2027. But Vucic resigned from the presidency in September, ahead of the end of his second and final constitutional term, and is leading the SNS campaign for prime minister. The manoeuvre has made the parliamentary contest central to his effort to r...