Serbia Heads to Polls Sunday in First Elections Since Novi Sad Protests

Six million, 450 thousand and 523 Serbian voters will head to the ballot box on Sunday in the first general national elections since the launch of protests that lasted nearly two years, triggered by the collapse of a railway station roof in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, which claimed 16 lives.

The Serbian Electoral Commission (RIK) announced 18 candidate lists after one was withdrawn. Voters will compete for 250 seats in the unicameral parliament through a proportional representation system with closed party lists in a single electoral district, with a 3% threshold that does not apply to lists of national minorities.

The ballot is headed by the "Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia" list, led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power since 2012. In second place is the list of former Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, while the "Student List - Students Win" led by Ilija Srdanovic ranks third, a list backed by the student protest movement.

Opinion polls have pointed to significant convergence between the Vucic and student lists. Vucic had resigned from the presidency and signed in September a decision to dissolve parliament to hold these early elections. During his campaign, he stated that he would accept the results regardless and congratulate his opponents in case of their victory.

102 thousand and 147 Serbs living abroad are registered to vote through 8,392 ballot boxes, most of them in Bosnia and Herzegovina with 28 boxes. Voting begins at 7 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. local time.