Serbia at a crossroads: What-s at stake and what Moscow can expect

Serbia at a crossroads: What-s at stake and what Moscow can expect

The October 25 parliamentary election comes after nearly two years of protests, with ties to Russia and the EU among the key issues
Serbia is heading into a snap parliamentary election on October 25 following nearly two years of anti-government protests sparked by a deadly railway station canopy collapse.
Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is running for prime minister against a fragmented opposition seeking to capitalize on the protest movement. The result could reshape Serbia’s political landscape and its delicate balancing act between Russia and the EU.
What is Serbia voting for, and why does it matter?Voters will elect 250 members of the National Assembly, with 126 seats needed for a majority. A total of 18 electoral lists, comprising 2,418 candidates, are contesting the election, including the ruling coalition, student-backed candidates, established opposition parties and representatives of national minorities.
The vote will test whether the protest movement can challenge the ruling coalition at the ballot box.
What led to the snap election?The crisis began after a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Protesters blamed the disaster on alleged corruption and failures of government oversight.
Rescue service workers inspect the scene after a roof collapsed at a railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia. November 1, 2024. ©  Interior Ministry of Serbia via AP Demonstrations intensified after students and lecturers involved in a vigil commemorating the disaster at Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts on November 22, 2024 blocked traffic, prompting drivers to clash with the crowd; some of the motorists were later identified from photos posted online as Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) officials.
Students began blockading university faculties, demanding the release of documents relating to the station’s renovation, accountability for attacks on protesters, an end to the prosecution of detained demonstrators and increased funding for public universities.
The authorities said the demands had been met, but protesters disputed the claim.
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in January 2025 following another attack on students, but the protests continued. A major rally in Belgrade on March 15 attracted an estimated 275,000 to 325,000 people, according to the organization Arhiv javnih skupova.
Parliament elected a government headed by Djuro Macut in April, but the student movement demanded snap elections on May 5.
An aerial view of a large crowd at a gathering to commemorate the railway station canopy collapse on November 1, 2025, in Novi Sad, Serbia. ©  Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images Vucic has accused foreign organizations and intelligence services of financing the protests, alleging on Thursday that outside actors were seeking to remove him from power.
Serbia was the victim of perhaps Europe’s first ‘color revolution’ in 2000, when the opposition, having received extensive funding and training from the National Democratic Institute (NDI), International Republican Institute (IRI), and USAID, as well as support from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (operating in 2000 as the Fund for an Open Society – Yugoslavia), brought down the government.
Has Vucic lost power, or is he trying to hold on to it?Vucic resigned as president on September 27, saying he intended to campaign in the parliamentary election without holding the presidency.
He now heads the ruling coalition’s electoral list and is running for prime minister.
Who is running, and who could form a government?The ruling camp is led by the ‘Aleksandar Vucic – United Serbia’ coalition, built around the SNS. Its longstanding partner, Ivica Dacic’s Socialist Party of Serbia, is running separately under the ‘Factor of Stability’ banner.
President Aleksandar Vucic waves a Serbian flag during a r