Aleksandar Vučić resigned as Serbia’s president and plans to stand as the Progressive Party’s lead candidate in the October 25 snap parliamentary election, seeking the premiership if successful. Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabić will serve as acting president.
Serbia’s constitution requires a presidential election within three months, though no date has been set. Vučić’s term ends next year, and after two terms he cannot run again. Experts believe he hopes the move will consolidate his grip on power.
The resignation comes amid student-led protests after a railway-station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, killing 16. Demonstrators blame government corruption and official negligence and had called for Vučić to resign. In his final act as president, he pardoned 49 people or had criminal proceedings against them dropped; 23 had come to judicial authorities’ attention in connection with the protests.
