Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Florian Bieber, Vice President of SOG; Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz
• Vukosava Crnjanski, Director, CRTA, Belgrade

Moderation

• Viktoria Voglsinger-Palm, Deputy Director, SOG

On the topic

Serbia is heading towards early parliamentary elections on 25 October 2026. The vote follows almost two years of mass protests, initially triggered by the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse in November 2024. The collapse killed 16 people and sparked a broad student-led movement demanding accountability, an end to corruption, and eventually political change.

The Serbian government has portrayed the protests as a threat to Serbia’s stability and accused protesters and their supporters of being influenced by foreign actors. At the same time, the authorities’ handling of the protests has drawn criticism over police violence, arbitrary arrests, and increased pressure on civil society and independent media. In September, President Aleksandar Vučić called snap elections and announced that he intends to step down as president and run for the office of prime minister, as the constitution prohibits him from running for the office of president again. In the meantime, the student movement has entered the electoral arena, submitting its own candidate list, Students Win, and is now campaigning across the country. 

The elections in Serbia will therefore take place in a deeply polarised political environment, with serious concerns about the fairness of the electoral playing field. Our discussion ahead of the vote will thus address the following questions: What is the situation in the country ahead of the elections and what to expect on election day? How are the various political blocs and movements faring in the latest polls? What does this mean for smaller and oppositional parties? What could different election outcomes mean for Serbia’s domestic political landscape, its impact on the Serbian society, for the country’s path towards EU membership and for the Western Balkans region? And what to expect for the Serbian Presidential elections that will soon have to follow?