# Vučić says he will resign within weeks and call early elections in Serbia > After 18 months of student-led protests, the president pledges to step down a year early, hints at becoming prime minister, and vows his bloc will win 'more convincingly than ever' **Meta:** type: event · date: 2026-06-27 · heads: من يقرّر, ما الذي تعطّل · 6 takes · 4 lenses · 4 regions ## Summary [Serbia](/ar/entity/serbia)n President [Aleksandar Vucic](/ar/entity/aleksandar-vucic) told a rally of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Belgrade on June 27 that he will resign within weeks and call early presidential and parliamentary elections, about a year before his mandate ends in mid-2027. Barred from a third term, he hinted he may instead run for prime minister, and predicted his bloc, which he proposed naming "United Serbia", would win "more convincingly than ever before". The move follows 18 months of student-led anti-corruption protests triggered by the November 2024 collapse of a railway-station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people, the largest sustained demonstrations since the 2000 fall of Slobodan Milošević. Student leader Savo Manojlović called it an attempt to "preempt" an "inevitable fall". ## The split State-aligned and Western wires read the same words differently. AP and Reuters cast it as a tactical retreat under pressure, with Vučić engineering a vote he expects to win and a path to stay on as premier. The student-sympathetic framing (IBTimes) credits the movement, not the formal opposition, for forcing his hand, and warns the resignation is choreography. Vučić's own line, that this is "not at all the end", makes the point: he is changing chairs, not leaving. ## By the numbers - 13, years Vučić has dominated Serbian politics as president or PM. - 18, months of student-led protests before the announcement. - 16, people killed in the November 2024 Novi Sad canopy collapse that sparked them. - 2027, when his second and final presidential mandate was due to expire. ## Why it matters A leader who built a personalised machine is conceding the streets won, then trying to launder that defeat through an election he controls the timing and rules of. The outcome decides whether Serbia's protest wave produces real turnover or a managed reshuffle, and shapes an EU-candidate state that Brussels has handled gingerly. ## What to watch - The exact resignation date and the election timetable Vučić sets. - Whether he formally runs for prime minister, keeping power without the presidency. - Whether students and the fragmented opposition field a united challenge or splinter. - Turnout and any disputes over fairness, the protesters' core grievance. ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### US wire / conservative - **The Washington Times (AP)** (United States, en) — Reports Vučić telling an SNS rally in Belgrade on June 27 that he will resign within weeks and trigger early elections, roughly a year before his mandate ends in 2027. Notes he cannot run again under electoral law and hinted he may seek the prime minister's post, and claimed his party would win decisively. > "'These are my last days and weeks as the republic's president. After that, I will resign,' Vučić told thousands of party supporters." Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/jun/27/serbias-populist-president-vucic-says-resign-within-weeks-election/ ### Asia-based, sympathetic to the student movement - **International Business Times (Singapore)** (Singapore, en) — Frames the resignation as a win for students, not parties: university protesters sustained more than a year of rallies where Serbia's fragmented opposition failed for over a decade. Calls the movement the largest sustained wave of protest since the 2000 overthrow of Milošević. > "'It was university students, not party politicians, who sustained more than a year of protests against what they call Vučić's increasingly autocratic rule.'" Source: https://www.ibtimes.sg/students-succeed-where-serbias-opposition-failed-vucic-finally-budges-announces-exit-88688 ### international wire - **Reuters (via Global Banking & Finance)** (United Kingdom, en) — Wire account stressing the scale and timing: 18 months of student-led protests triggered by the Novi Sad canopy collapse, now the biggest demonstrations since Milošević's fall. Carries student leader Savo Manojlović reading the move as Vučić trying to 'preempt his inevitable fall' rather than a genuine retreat. > "Manojlović: Vučić 'is trying to preempt his inevitable fall, because of protests and because of the student movement, which has more support than he does.'" Source: https://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/serbia-president-vucic-resign-within-weeks-one-year-end/ ### unlabelled - **RFE/RL** (United States / Europe, en) — Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/serbia-vucic-resign-early-elections-protests/33790216.html - **CNN** (United States, en) — Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/27/europe/vucic-serbian-president-resignation-latam-intl - **U.S. News & World Report (Reuters)** (United States, en) — Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-06-27/serbia-president-vucic-says-to-resign-within-weeks-one-year-before-end-of-mandate ## Across the graph - Related: [[serbia-kosovo-dialogue-frozen]] - Entities: Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, European Union --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/ar/n/vucic-resignation-early-elections-2026