Serbia election won by Student List as Vučić concedes defeat

Student List wins 52.71 percent of the vote

In the latest count of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), the Student List had 52.71 percent of the vote and United Serbia 39.17 percent. The list of Ivica Dačić, led by his Socialist Party of Serbia, had 2.17 percent, below the 3 percent needed to win seats.

Aleksandar Vučić

Aleksandar Vučić, who resigned as president to lead the list of his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), conceded defeat on the evening of 25 October. Citing a sample of polling stations, he said the Student List would win 135 to 140 of the 250 seats in the National Assembly, Serbia's parliament, and his United Serbia list about 105. He said there was no final result yet.

The final projection of the election monitors CeSID and Ipsos gives the Student List 140 seats, more than the 126 of a majority, United Serbia 103 and four smaller lists the other 7. CeSID put turnout at 69.3 percent.

What the probabilities said

Before the vote, the market-implied probability of a win for Aleksandar Vučić and United Serbia was 69 percent, against 30.5 percent for the Student List.

The Student List has not yet named a candidate for prime minister. The market-implied probability that the post goes to Dejan Šoškić, a former governor of the central bank who stood 27th on the list, is 39.3 percent; for Ilija Srdanović, the first on the list, it is 20 percent, and for Radomir Saičić, a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 10.7 percent.

What happens next

The RIK will announce the final results once local commissions have reported. The outgoing speaker must then call the first session of the new parliament within 30 days of their publication. From that session, there are 90 days to form a government.

The presidency has been vacant since Vučić resigned on 27 September 2026 to run for prime minister. Ana Brnabić, the outgoing speaker of parliament, is acting president, and the first round of an early presidential election is due by the end of 2026.

Why Serbia voted early

Protests began after a concrete canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people. Protesters accuse the government of corruption that led to negligence in the station's renovation. Vučić called the early election in September.

The Student List ran 250 largely unknown candidates, among them farmers, university professors and actors. 18 parties competed, and a list needed at least 3 percent of the vote to win seats. The deadline for submitting lists expired on 4 October.

By the movement's own rules no student stood on the list, which has no leader. Its first candidate is Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist and professor at the medical faculty in Novi Sad.