Record turnout in Serbia as student movement challenges Vucic at snap election

Serbian voters turned out in unusually high numbers on Sunday as a student-led movement sought to convert almost two years of street protests into an electoral breakthrough against President Aleksandar Vucic.

Turnout reached 27.3 percent by 11am, according to election monitors CeSID and Ipsos — nearly double the 15.1 percent recorded at the same point in the 2023 election. Queues stretched outside polling stations across the country; Vucic himself waited nearly two hours to cast his ballot.

The snap parliamentary election follows mass demonstrations triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024. What began as a student protest has since broadened into a direct challenge to Vucic, who has held power since 2014.

The movement fielded a list of 250 candidates, including university professors, actors and farmers, headed by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic. Their campaign centres on rooting out corruption and improving education. It remains unclear who would become prime minister if the movement wins.

Srdanovic said after voting in Novi Sad that he hoped "today will pass in a democratic atmosphere, in peace," and expressed his wish that Serbia would legitimately elect a new government.

Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party deny accusations of repression and corruption. He has accused the student movement of receiving funding from foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro, a charge the movement rejects.

Polling stations were due to close at 8pm, with first indications of results expected around two hours later.