Serbia's snap parliamentary election ended on Sunday, 25 October 2026, after a day of record participation. A student-backed movement is seeking to dislodge longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic, and the first indications of the result were expected a few hours after polls closed at 8pm local time (19:00 GMT).
The State Election Commission reported that turnout had reached 64.9 percent by 17:00 GMT, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. A higher turnout does not reveal which side benefited. University of Belgrade researcher Jelena Vasiljevic told Al Jazeera in an interview published Friday that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has a dependable voter base, while the students must draw in people who usually stay away from the polls.
The vote will decide whether the SNS, which has governed since 2012, can hold on to power against a movement that grew out of nationwide anticorruption protests. About six and a half million people were eligible to vote for 250 parliamentary seats, with 18 electoral lists in the race. A majority of 126 seats is required to form a government.
The campaign followed nearly two years of student-led demonstrations. They began after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people. Calls for accountability grew into a broader movement against alleged government corruption and repression. Vucic and the SNS deny those accusations.
The Student List, called Students Win, emerged from those protests. It is fielding candidates from fields such as medicine and education, many with no political background. The movement campaigns for stronger institutions and an end to corruption, and some established opposition parties have supported it instead of running their own candidates.
Vucic resigned as president in September to run for prime minister, promising higher pensions, public-sector wages and investment. His supporters credit his time in power with modernising Serbia's economy.
Election day was marked by reports of intimidation and procedural problems. The independent watchdog Centre for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) said its observers recorded pressure on voters or election workers at almost a third of the 500 polling stations it monitored. It also reported failures to protect the secrecy of the ballot.
The Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), another monitoring group, said it had received about 260 reports of potential irregularities by 5pm local time (16:00 GMT). These included photographing of ballots, group voting and difficulties with identification checks.
Security was visible in Belgrade, where police in riot helmets and carrying shields deployed near the election commission's headquarters. Roads there were closed and barricades put up. City prosecutors urged everyone involved in the election to avoid violence.
