Vučić accepted the main demand of anti-government protesters: early elections in Serbia in 2026

Discount or calculation? Vučić announces early elections for 2026

As Serbia faces a crucial election year, the government and the student-led opposition are gearing up for a fierce political battle.

On December 28, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that he would accept one of the main demands of the ongoing anti-government protests and call early parliamentary elections for 2026.

Outside the National Assembly building in Belgrade, Vučić declared that the elections will take place next year and expressed his strong confidence in the victory of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. “We will win everywhere in Serbia,” he declared, adding that the elections were a political response to the protesters, although he said they would not be satisfied with the results.

Vučić framed the decision as a concession to the protesters’ main demand, stressing that power, love and determination will overcome what he called the opposition’s hatred. He highlighted the government’s achievements and predicted that 2026 would be one of the strongest years in Serbia’s history, marked by extensive road and railway construction. He also compared the peaceful nature of the Serbian protests – no deaths – to violent protests in other countries, such as France’s “yellow vest” movement.

The president called the past year the most difficult, citing intense clashes that included an attack on the headquarters of the Serbian Progressive Party and alleged attacks on party supporters. Vučić accused the protesters of being part of a wider effort to destabilize the country, while praising his supporters and veterans for defending Serbia. He expressed his gratitude to the Serbian people for giving him the strength to persevere in the midst of what he believed to be lies about him and the government.

The announcement comes amid more than a year of student-led protests that have posed the biggest challenge to Vučić’s 13-year dominance. The movement erupted in November 2024 following a tragic event in the northern city of Újvidék, where the collapse of a newly renovated concrete canopy at the train station claimed the lives of 16 people. The disaster has been widely blamed on corruption, disregard for building codes and failure to adhere to safety standards during the renovation. Despite several investigations, no one has yet been held responsible, which further increased public anger.

The students are still at the forefront of the demonstrations, in recent months instead of large-scale street demonstrations and university blockades, they have organized targeted actions to demonstrate broad social support. On Sunday, December 28, a national campaign to collect signatures was organized, hundreds of stands were set up in more than 100 cities, towns and villages in Serbia. Despite freezing temperatures, citizens lined up to sign forms expressing support for early parliamentary elections, which served not as an official petition but as a symbolic gauge of public sentiment and additional pressure on the government.

The organizers reported a strong turnout, according to the students’ estimates, nine out of ten of those interviewed in recent weeks supported the call for early elections. In Belgrade and other locations, participants placed the signed forms in transparent boxes, and the initiative was supported by public figures, including university chancellors and ordinary citizens. Many expressed their deep frustration with the current political situation, citing poverty, lack of democracy and their desire for a better future for their families. A Belgrade mother voiced her fear of having to send her son abroad without change, while others reflected on the long struggle for real democratic progress since the fall of Slobodan Milošević more than two decades ago.

Although Vučić has now committed to holding elections in 2026 – earlier than the originally planned 2027 parliamentary and presidential elections – he has previously opposed immediate early elections, accusing the opposition of seeking a Western-backed “color revolution” to topple his government. He has denied accusations of suppressing democratic freedoms, fostering corruption or allowing organized crime to flourish, while maintaining Serbia’s official path to EU membership and close ties with Russia and China.

The opposition to Serbia’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) remains deeply divided between pro-European political groups, nationalist factions and a burgeoning student movement that has led nationwide anti-corruption protests since late 2024. This deep division—exacerbated by mutual distrust between existing opposition parties and decentralized, independent student protesters—seriously hinders the formation of a united front that could effectively challenge Vučić.

Vučić has dominated Serbian politics for more than a decade. He was Minister of Defense between 2012 and 2013, Prime Minister between 2014 and 2017, and President since 2017 (re-elected in 2022). During this time, he gained almost complete control over the most important institutions, the media sphere and the state apparatus, which led to the development of a widely criticized authoritarian environment with limited independent control and limited freedom of the press.

Stabilocracy without stability

In previous years, Vučić’s rule in Serbia was often referred to as a “stabilocracy” – a system that provided semblance of stability despite the decline of democracy. However, since the tragic collapse of the roof of the Novi Sad railway station in November 2024, it has increasingly appeared that his regime is not stable.

However, despite mounting setbacks and erosion of public trust, Vučić has considerable financial and political resources to secure his electoral victories, especially in the absence of a strong, unified opposition.

In this context, the prospect of early parliamentary elections – one of the central demands of the current student protests – looks less like a genuine concession to public pressure than a calculated strategic move by Vučić. As Serbia enters what is expected to be a crucial election year, both the government and the student-led opposition appear poised for a fierce political battle.