“I will be president for only a couple of weeks, and then I will resign.” Aleksandar Vucic said that on Saturday to supporters at a pro-government rally in Belgrade, and with it he set up early presidential and parliamentary elections in Serbia.
He gave no date for leaving office. He did not say when voters would go to the polls for Parliament or for a new head of state either.
“We will win more convincingly than ever before,” he told the crowd. He said he would help his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party in the campaign, and that this was probably the last time he would speak to them as president. His second and last mandate was due to run out in mid-2027.
Months of protest
The announcement follows months of student-led mass protests against the government. Tens of thousands of people have rallied across Serbia since November 2024, when the Novi Sad rail station disaster killed 16 people and set off public anger.
Hundreds of demonstrators were detained. The European Union accused Serbian police of excessive force and arbitrary arrests. In January 2025 the protests brought down then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic.
Vucic has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade, and his populist party took over the government 14 years ago. Over that time he has tightened his hold on power. He has repeatedly called the protesters “foreign agents” and accused them of “fuelling divisions” and of trying to overthrow the government.
The students answered with a rally of their own. They planned to gather on Sunday in Kraljevo, in central Serbia, again pressing for early elections and promoting national unity.
