BELGRADE — Serbia votes on Sunday in a snap parliamentary election as a mass student protest movement seeks to unseat long-time populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, who has held power first as prime minister and then as president for more than a decade, Reuters reported. Polling stations open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT), with first indications of results expected around two hours later.

Source: Reuters via WNFL, Oct 25, 2026

The snap elections, called by Vucic in September, come after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism, triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024, Reuters reported. The students have since gained widespread support.

Source: Reuters via WNFL, Oct 25, 2026

A tight race, the polls suggest

Opinion polls predict a tight race. In an Ipsos poll published on Thursday, Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is seen leading with 47% of votes versus 40% for the students, but other polls have put the students in the lead, Reuters reported. The Student List is fielding candidates for all 250 parliamentary seats, headed by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic and including university professors, actors and farmers, AFP reported. Belgrade University political scientist Dusan Vucicevic told AFP he projected the Student List would top 40 percent, which would be the strongest opposition showing since the SNS took power in 2012.

Source: Reuters via WNFL; AFP via GlobeTV, Oct 25, 2026

About 6,450,523 registered voters choose 250 members of the National Assembly across 8,392 polling stations, with 126 seats needed for an outright majority and 18 lists on the ballot, The Indeks reported. Election observer group CeSID and Ipsos planned to publish turnout estimates five times during the day, with first result estimates expected around 9:30 to 10:00 p.m.

Source: The Indeks, Oct 25, 2026; CeSID via Srpske Novine

250Seats in Serbia's National Assembly being chosen on Sunday
47% vs 40%Ipsos poll published Thursday — SNS ahead of the Student List; other polls put the students first
8 p.m.Polls close (1900 GMT); first result indications expected about two hours later

Vucic, who resigned as president to run again for prime minister, has pledged higher pensions and public sector salaries, investment in state healthcare and subsidies for young couples, Reuters reported. Many voters thank him for pulling Serbia from economic obscurity and overseeing new highways, railways, schools and hospitals. On the international stage, he has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia's traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union.

Source: Reuters via WNFL, Oct 25, 2026

The students' domestic agenda aims to root out graft and improve schooling, Reuters reported. Vucic says the students are funded by foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro — a charge the students dismiss — and his office and the Interior Ministry did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Relations with the EU have frayed as the bloc has grown frustrated with a lack of reforms on the judiciary, rule of law and corruption, and a Council of Europe delegation this month noted what it called hostile and aggressive rhetoric against opponents.

Source: Reuters via WNFL, Oct 25, 2026

How to read this story

This is a voting-day story, not a result: no winner had been declared when it was published, and the polls disagree — Ipsos puts the SNS ahead, other surveys put the students first. A student victory would be a profound political shift in a country of some 6 million people, Reuters noted, reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary's Viktor Orban in April.