Serbian voters formed huge queues at the polls / Aleksandar Vučić waited two hours to vote

Gabriel Dumitrache

25 October 2026, 13:21

International

Foto: Shutterstock

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Serbia recorded massive turnout in the snap parliamentary elections held on Sunday, amid a tense political confrontation between the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the party of former President Aleksandar Vučić, and the student-backed reformist bloc. In the early hours of the vote, hundreds of voters formed queues at polling stations across the country, while turnout reported during the first three hours was more than twice as high as in the 2023 elections.

Aleksandar Vučić waited in line for nearly two hours at a polling station in Belgrade before voting. Vučić said he hoped for a peaceful election and that he would respect the result.

That same day, the SNS claimed that the Serbian leader’s mother, Angelina Vučić, had allegedly been verbally and physically assaulted near the Kalenić market in Belgrade. According to the party, she was allegedly pushed by a group of young people, and the shopping bags she was carrying were allegedly torn. Angelina Vučić is said to have filed a complaint with the police, but the authorities have not yet presented any public conclusions. The allegations come after nearly two years of student protests against corruption and the authorities in Belgrade. Polls indicated a close race: the SNS was credited with 47%, while the reformist bloc had approximately 40%.

Context: Serbia entered snap elections after months of student protests and a political mobilization launched by Vučić

Snap parliamentary elections in Serbia were announced by Aleksandar Vučić at the end of September, following pressure from the student movement. He stated that he would sign the decree dissolving parliament and officially calling the elections, and announced that he would resign as president on 27 September in order to launch his campaign and attempt to return to leading the government.

The contest was fueled by protests that began after the collapse of the railway station roof in Novi Sad in November 2024, a tragedy that left 16 people dead, amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement. Students called for independent investigations and institutional reforms, and during the campaign they submitted a list of 250 candidates to the Electoral Commission in Belgrade; in parallel, rallies organized a few days before the vote brought tens or hundreds of thousands of participants to Belgrade.