Serbia's Vučić Concedes After Student Group Landslide Victory
The Student List won 140 of 250 parliamentary seats, mirroring the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán who fell to a similar youth-driven movement earlier this year.
By Anthony Foster ·
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić admitted defeat at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.
His concession followed a landslide victory for the Student List in the country's parliamentary elections. The new party secured 140 seats in the 250-seat legislature. This outcome parallels the April defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Vučić and Orbán both lost power to popular movements driven by young voters. Orbán, 63, was ousted in April by Pter Magyar's Tisza party. Vučić, 56, fell to a student coalition less than two years old. Both leaders had held office for nearly two decades, ruling for 14 and 16 years respectively.
Turnout in Serbia reached 69%, while Hungary saw 79% participation in its spring election. Tech-savvy young people mobilized voters and deployed election monitors in both nations. They used AI tools to analyze data and identify potential threats to the vote.
Péter Klemm, a student activist from Subotica, described the election day atmosphere. He noted that masked groups of Vučić supporters gathered near polling stations after 4 p.m. Mobile teams filmed the activity to document intimidation tactics. Static monitors at threatened stations acted as a deterrent, preventing fraud according to Klemm.
Hungarian civic group DE sent 70 monitors to Serbia's Vojvodina province. They worked alongside Serbian student representatives at polling stations. During the summer, DE held workshops to share methods from the Hungarian election. A key strategy involved identifying infected districts where previous vote counts suggested voter intimidation or chain voting.
The two leaders shared close ties in business and politics before their ousters. They met in Subotica last November, where they discussed a planned Hungarian purchase of Serbia's Niš oil refinery. Both supported Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and maintained strong relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. A high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest is currently under construction with Chinese financing.
Speculation arose that Vučić called Orbán twice on Sunday night for advice. Reports suggest Orbán convinced his ally not to use force. Vučić denied speaking to Orbán before his concession but acknowledged the later conversation. Orbán declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
The Student List's 140 seats match the number Pter Magyar's Tisza party won in the 199-seat Hungarian parliament. Magyar called the students directly to congratulate them on election night. Ilija Srdanović, head of the Student List, said the Hungarian result confirmed their strategy was correct.
Both leaders now face potential prosecution for corruption and abuse of power. Serbia's JTOK and Hungary's NVVH have similar powers to investigate these cases. Hungarian companies linked to Orbán were involved in the Novi Sad railway station project. The station canopy collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people, an event that catalyzed the Serbian student movement.
Áron Timar, founder of the DE group, noted a shift in European perception. He stated that the regimes appeared to grow stronger with time, but actually weakened. Once society rose up, the momentum could not be stopped.
