Serbia's Vucic calls snap elections after nearly two years of protests

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday dissolved parliament and called snap parliamentary elections for October 25, a key demand of the country's long-running protest movement. Parliamentary elections were not due until December 2027, but Vucic called the early vote after nearly two years of anti-government demonstrations. "I am calling parliamentary elections for October 25," Vucic said in a nationally televised address. An anti-graft protest movement has gripped the country since the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. The tragedy was widely blamed on entrenched corruption and fuelled demonstrators' anger, drawing some of the largest crowds since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Initial calls for a transparent investigation evolved into demands for snap elections, which Vucic had repeatedly promised, but without setting a date. Read moreSerbia’s student-led protesters wanted accountability. Now they’re calling for elections "We have seen major turbulence on the domestic political scene over the past year and a half," Vucic said. "We need election results that will clearly reflect the will of the people,...