Vučić concedes Serbia's election to a student-led list and warns sanctions on Russia could follow by spring

Aleksandar Vučić, who has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade, conceded defeat to a student-led movement in Sunday's snap parliamentary election, Deutsche Welle reported. The movement grew out of nearly two years of protests that began after a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Protesters accused the governing Serbian Progressive Party of corruption, the Kyiv Independent reported.

In defeat, Vučić focused on Russia. "I am worried that by March or April we will have sanctions against Russia. They will do everything we did not want," he said, as quoted by Russian outlets and summarized by the Russian financial channel Bankrollo. Serbia is a candidate for European Union (EU) membership, but under Vučić it refused to join EU sanctions on Moscow, and it relies on Russian pipeline gas. The same Russian reports noted that the Student List had previously promised to keep Belgrade's current policy toward Moscow. Vučić's warning is therefore his own forecast, not the winners' stated program.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa congratulated the Student List, according to Kommersant. They said they were ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom and the fight against corruption.