Serbian President Vučić to resign after 1.5 years of protests

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced he will step down in the coming weeks, a move that paves the way for early elections. The announcement comes after 18 months of persistent mass protests driven by citizens' dissatisfaction with his administration's policies.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in the capital, Belgrade, Vučić stated he would remain president for "a few more weeks" before submitting his resignation. He also suggested that both snap presidential and parliamentary elections would be called, though the exact timing for these remains unclear. Both elections were originally scheduled for next year.

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We will win more convincingly than ever before

Vučić, who has served as president since 2017 and is in his second and final term, indicated his intention to run for prime minister afterward, a position he previously held from 2014 to 2017. He vowed to campaign vigorously for his conservative Serbian Progressive Party, expressing confidence in a stronger-than-ever victory.

The protests, largely led by students, began after a deadly accident at the Novi Sad train station in November 2024, where 16 people died when the roof of a newly renovated building collapsed. Demonstrators blamed negligence and corruption in major infrastructure projects for the disaster, accusing the government of authoritarian rule and corruption.

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This was perhaps the last time I addressed my supporters as president.