Serbia's Putin-backed strongman Aleksandar Vucic concedes defeat to a student-led movement after 12 years in power
Aleksandar Vucic, branded Putin's last friend in Europe, faces a snap parliamentary election billed as a showdown with the student-led movement that has mobilised against him.Hooded men outside the Serbian parliament building in Belgrade, as thousands of Serbian Americans are also expected to vote in today's snap election.
Record turnout swept away Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, and the populist leader admitted it was 'clear' his side had lost. Jubilant crowds poured onto the streets of Belgrade to celebrate. The snap vote came after almost two years of student-led protests against perceived corruption and authoritarian rule. Moscow now loses its closest European ally after Hungary's Viktor Orbán fell in April.
The protest movement had its origins in a railway station roof collapse in November 2024 that left 16 people dead.
Serbia's last election of comparable significance was the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000.
