Serbia’s long-standing leader Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement in the country’s snap parliamentary election.
“We still do not have final results… it is clear that we have lost these elections,” the right-wing populist leader said late on Sunday.
Preliminary figures provided by Serbia’s election commission indicated a record high turnout, which commentators had suggested would favour the student movement.
Vučić had called the snap elections after two years of protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.
Vučić made his announcement at the headquarters of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the capital Belgrade.
There were celebrations on the streets of the city, with cars honking and students chanting “victory”.
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