Serbia’s Sunday vote tests Vučić’s long rule after student protests

 Conceptual illustration; it is not a photograph or a projection of the result. Serbia votes on Sunday, October 25, in an early parliamentary election that has become the biggest test in years for the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Its main challenger is a student-backed list born from nearly two years of protests. The [Associated Press describes the contest](https://apnews.com/article/serbia-parliament-election-vucic-students-6b407f309dc92fccde3c3b0016ba301c) as a referendum-like choice between Aleksandar Vučić’s party and the Students’ List, while noting that voters can choose among multiple lists. Vučić dissolved parliament and called the early vote on September 9, according to the [Serbian presidency’s announcement](https://www.srbija.gov.rs/vest/en/287130/president-of-republic-calls-parliamentary-elections-for-25-october.php). Polling stations are scheduled to open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. local time, the [Republic Electoral Commission says](https://biraci.parlament.gov.rs/tekst/1279/kada-gde-i-kako-glasam.php). AP reports that about 6.4 million voters are eligible to choose the 250-member National Assembly. The student protests began after a concrete canopy at Novi Sad’s railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Students demanded accountability and the rule of law, and their movement grew into a national challenge to the SNS, which has dominated Serbian politics since 2012, [AP and Reuters report](https://www.marketscreener.com/news/as-serbia-votes-students-emerge-as-greatest-threat-to-vucic-s-long-rule-ce785cd9d989f02d). Vučić, who called the vote as president in September, is seeking to return as prime minister if his political bloc forms the next government, AP reports. This is a parliamentary election: it determines the Assembly and the government it supports, not the presidency directly. The vote also matters because Serbia is an EU candidate country, and the campaign has prompted scrutiny of whether the contest is fair. International observers and the EU have raised concerns about polarization, media coverage, voter-list accuracy, journalists’ safety and the treatment of opposition voters, [AP reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/10/15/serbia-election-eu-tensions-vucic/bcce9c42-c898-11f1-aefb-abe4112d087e_story.html). The [Council of Europe’s pre-election delegation](https://pace.coe.int/en/news/10465/a-pace-pre-electoral-delegation-highlights-a-highly-polarised-campaign-ahead-of-serbia-s-early-parliamentary-elections) separately called attention to a highly polarized campaign. Claims of intimidation, surveillance and violence are reported concerns, not findings about how Sunday’s ballot will be counted. Observers also reported irregularities after the 2023 election. The [OSCE’s election mission](https://odihr.osce.org/node/666908) includes 14 experts and 30 long-term observers; it has requested 300 short-term observers for polling day. Delegations from the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe will join the observation effort. The OSCE says preliminary findings are due on Monday, October 26, with a fuller report later. The result, whether a government can be formed quickly and whether all sides accept the count remain unknown. Analysts quoted by [AP](https://apnews.com/article/serbia-election-students-rally-vucic-65df3d9c2842a670c56d253ca8fcfdd3) warn that a close result could raise the risk of post-election instability, which makes the observers’ assessment and the official count the next key steps. ~worldnews