BELGRADE — Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Saturday that he will resign within weeks and called for early presidential and parliamentary elections, addressing supporters at a pro-government rally in Belgrade.
The move follows 18 months of anti-corruption protests led largely by students after the collapse of an awning at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people, an incident critics say exposed wider problems of government mismanagement and corruption. Students in Novi Sad recently commemorated the 2024 deaths and intensified demands for snap national elections.
Vucic, who is serving his second and final term set to expire in mid-2027, said he would remain president for only “a couple of weeks” before stepping down and pledged to back the Serbian Progressive Party in the forthcoming contests. He did not give a precise resignation date or say when he might dissolve parliament, a necessary step to trigger an early parliamentary vote.
Opposition figures, rights groups and student activists have signalled they will contest Vucic and the SNS in the anticipated elections, framing the railway disaster as emblematic of entrenched corruption and poor oversight.