Arabic version: فوتشيتش يقر بخسارة انتخابات صربيا أمام قائمة الطلبة

According to BBC News, Serbia’s long-standing leader Aleksandar Vučić has conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement in snap parliamentary elections. Speaking late on Sunday, the right-wing populist leader said that, although final results were not yet available, it was clear that his side had lost.

Preliminary figures from Serbia’s election commission indicated record-high turnout. By 18:00 local time, two hours before polls were due to close, 64.9% of voters had cast ballots. Long queues were reported at polling stations across Serbia and in countries with sizeable Serbian communities, including Slovenia, Germany, the United States and France.

Vučić called the election after two years of protests sparked by the collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. The disaster was seen as a symbol of corruption and negligence. Vučić had served two terms as president and could not seek a third, so he led the Serbian Progressive Party with the aim of returning as prime minister, a post he left in 2017.

The Student List drew anti-government voters from across Serbia and fielded candidates for the 250-member parliament from professions including medicine, acting, academia and sport. Its campaign promised to remove officials who broke rules in crackdowns on protesters, prevent party loyalists from leading public enterprises, and free the public broadcaster from political control. Vučić and his party have repeatedly denied corruption.

Celebrations followed the concession in Belgrade and Novi Sad, with people dancing, chanting, sounding car horns and setting off fireworks. Student List lead candidate Ilija Srdanović told BBC Serbian: “This will be a free state.” Police had earlier sealed off streets around the Republic Electoral Commission in Belgrade as tensions remained high.