Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic resigns amid prolonged protests

Despite student-led protests and political unrest challenging his rule, Vucic intends to run in the snap elections.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic moments before formally submitting his resignation on Sunday to end his second and final five-year term [Reuters/Djordje Kojadinovic]

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has resigned to seek the prime minister’s post in a snap parliamentary election on October 25, as a student-led movement mounts the most serious challenge to his rule in more than a decade.

Vucic, on the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) ballot, has dominated Serbian politics as president or prime minister since 2014. Barred from seeking a third presidential term, he is now seeking to extend his hold on power through the parliamentary vote.

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Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic, a close ally, will serve as acting president pending a presidential election. Vucic said one of his final acts in office was to pardon 49 people, including 23 convicted in connection with the protests.

Protests triggered by railway station disaster

The election follows nearly two years of demonstrations prompted by the killing of 16 people when a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad on November 1, 2024.

Students have since organised some of Serbia’s largest demonstrations in decades, drawing hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets.

Protesters have accused the government of corruption, a lack of transparency and political interference in state institutions.

Vucic and his allies reject the allegations that they are responsible for the problems highlighted by the protesters.

The student movement is contesting the parliamentary election under the banner “Students Win”, with the backing of several opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, which was once led by former Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Its list of 250 candidates includes mostly university professors and professionals from a range of fields. Its platform calls for investigations into allegedly ill-gotten property, measures against corruption and political interference in public institutions and greater transparency in the use of public funds.

Some polls suggest that the student-backed movement could pose a serious threat to Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, although the authenticity and methodology of some of the polls are difficult to independently verify.

Belgrade-based editor and columnist Dejan Ilic told Al Jazeera that Vucic should not be credited with choosing to hold an early election.

“Vucic is not the only actor in this country. People have said that Serbia is in a bad state, they demanded elections and they forced elections,” Ilic said.

‘The crisis could begin after the election’

Aida Corovic, a former Serbian parliamentarian and human rights activist, said the anger extended beyond the student movement.

“Serbia has been undergoing internal change in recent months,” Corovic told Al Jazeera.

“I fear that the crisis in Serbia could only begin after the October 25 elections,” she said. “This government has taken over the institutions, it is deeply intertwined with organised crime and it will try every possible way to remain in power.”

A few hours before his resignation, Vucic told CNN that if the opposition won, he would acknowledge the results and congratulate his opponents that same evening.

A vote watched across the region

The political crisis in Serbia is being closely watched across the Western Balkans.

Belgrade maintains close political, economic and cultural ties with Serbian communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, giving developments in Belgrade significant influence beyond its borders.

Tanja Topic, head of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation office in neighbouring Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, said a change in Serbia’s political direction could ease tensions across the region.

“It is crucial that the paradigm in Serbia’s politics changes because it would bring relief to the entire region,” Topic told Al Jazeera.

She said Belgrade has for years sent mixed messages to its neighbours, presenting itself as a supporter of peace, stability and prosperity while, in her view, contributing to political tensions in the region.

That influence has been particularly significant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Topic said, while relations between Serbia and Croatia have also deteriorated in recent years.

“We should not expect miracles overnight,” Topic remarked.

“Changing the value system would be a long and difficult process, but I think that disappointment if change does not come could have more serious and damaging consequences, both in Serbia and across the region.”

Economy under pressure

With a population of about six million, Serbia is the largest country in the Western Balkans with one of the region’s largest economies.

Vucic has promoted the country as an emerging economic success story, pointing to Chinese investment, energy supplies from Russia and, more recently, growing cooperation with Israel.

But average wages remain below those in neighbouring European Union member states.

According to official statistics, the average net monthly salary in Serbia was 1,032 euros ($1,174) in April, compared with 1,555 euros ($1,770) in neighbouring Croatia – a difference of about 51 percent compared with the EU member.

The contrast in living standards is one of several issues shaping public debate as voters prepare to return to the polls.

Serbia’s current political crisis is unfolding against the backdrop of the country’s unresolved wartime legacy.

More than two decades ago, NATO launched a bombing campaign against the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war. At the time, Serbia was ruled by Slobodan Milosevic.

The legacy of the Balkans wars of the 1990s remains politically sensitive.

In early September, Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army who was convicted by an international tribunal of genocide and war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was buried in Belgrade.

His funeral, which was attended by several Serbian government ministers and included military honours, prompted international criticism.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc had no place for those who glorify war crimes.

The October election will therefore be watched not only as a contest over Serbia’s domestic political future, but also for what it may signal about the country’s direction and its relationship with the rest of the Western Balkans.

尽管学生领导的抗议活动和政治动荡挑战了他的统治，武契奇仍打算参加提前举行的选举。

塞尔维亚总统亚历山大·武契奇在周日正式递交辞呈，结束其第二个也是最后一个五年任期前夕 [路透社/乔尔杰·科亚迪诺维奇]

塞尔维亚总统亚历山大·武契奇已辞职，将参加10月25日举行的提前议会选举，竞选总理职位。与此同时，一场由学生领导的运动对他的统治发起了十多年来最严峻的挑战。

武契奇代表塞尔维亚进步党（SNS）参选，自 2014 年以来一直担任塞尔维亚总统或总理，主导着塞尔维亚政坛。由于无法寻求第三个总统任期，他现在正寻求通过议会选举来巩固其权力。

列表 1/3 瓦列沃学生抗议活动一年后：塞尔维亚正处于十字路口

（共3条） 波斯尼亚塞族在紧张局势中加强与以色列的关系

列表 3/3：塞尔维亚开设工厂组装以色列制造的无人机

议长安娜·布尔纳比奇是武契奇的亲密盟友，她将在总统选举前担任代总统。武契奇表示，他卸任前的最后举措之一是赦免49人，其中包括23名因参与抗议活动而被定罪的人。

火车站灾难引发抗议

此次选举是在经历了近两年的示威游行之后举行的。示威游行是由2024年11月1日发生在北部城市诺维萨德火车站的混凝土顶棚倒塌事件引发的，该事件造成16人死亡。

此后，学生们组织了塞尔维亚几十年来规模最大的示威游行，吸引了数十万人走上街头。

抗议者指责政府腐败、缺乏透明度，并对国家机构进行政治干预。

武契奇及其盟友否认了他们应对抗议者所指出的问题负责的指控。

学生运动以“学生获胜”为口号参加议会选举，并得到了包括民主党在内的几个反对党的支持，民主党曾由塞尔维亚前总统鲍里斯·塔迪奇领导。

该组织列出的250名候选人主要包括大学教授和各领域专业人士。其政纲呼吁对涉嫌非法所得财产进行调查，采取措施打击腐败和政治干预公共机构，并提高公共资金使用的透明度。

一些民调显示，学生支持的这场运动可能对武契奇的塞尔维亚进步党构成严重威胁，尽管其中一些民调的真实性和方法难以独立核实。

贝尔格莱德的编辑兼专栏作家德扬·伊利奇告诉半岛电视台，不应将提前举行选举的决定归功于武契奇。

“武契奇并非这个国家唯一的政治人物。人们说塞尔维亚的状况很糟糕，他们要求举行选举，而且他们也促成了选举，”伊利奇说道。

“危机可能在大选后爆发”

塞尔维亚前议员兼人权活动家艾达·科罗维奇表示，这种愤怒情绪已经蔓延到学生运动之外。

科罗维奇告诉半岛电视台：“塞尔维亚近几个月来一直在经历内部变革。”

“我担心塞尔维亚的危机可能要到10月25日大选之后才会爆发，”她说。“本届政府已经掌控了各个机构，与有组织犯罪集团有着千丝万缕的联系，并且会想方设法继续掌权。”

在辞职前几个小时，武契奇告诉 CNN，如果反对派获胜，他将在当晚承认结果并向对手表示祝贺。

整个地区都在关注这场投票。

塞尔维亚的政治危机正受到整个西巴尔干地区的密切关注。

贝尔格莱德与波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那、黑山和科索沃的塞尔维亚社群保持着密切的政治、经济和文化联系，这使得贝尔格莱德的发展对其境外产生了重大影响。

弗里德里希·艾伯特基金会驻邻国波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那巴尼亚卢卡办事处负责人坦娅·托皮奇表示，塞尔维亚政治方向的改变可能会缓解整个地区的紧张局势。

“塞尔维亚政治范式的改变至关重要，因为这将给整个地区带来缓解，”托皮奇告诉半岛电视台。

她表示，多年来，贝尔格莱德向邻国发出了矛盾的信息，一方面标榜自己是和平、稳定和繁荣的支持者，另一方面，在她看来，却加剧了该地区的政治紧张局势。

托皮奇表示，这种影响在波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那尤其显著，而近年来塞尔维亚和克罗地亚之间的关系也恶化了。

“我们不应该指望一夜之间出现奇迹，”托皮克说道。

“改变价值观将是一个漫长而艰难的过程，但我认为，如果变革没有到来，由此带来的失望可能会对塞尔维亚乃至整个地区造成更严重、更具破坏性的后果。”

经济面临压力

塞尔维亚人口约六百万，是西巴尔干地区最大的国家，也是该地区最大的经济体之一。

武契奇一直将该国宣传为一个新兴的经济成功案例，并指出中国的投资、俄罗斯的能源供应，以及最近与以色列日益密切的合作。

但平均工资仍然低于邻近的欧盟成员国。

根据官方统计数据，4 月份塞尔维亚的平均月净工资为 1032 欧元（1174 美元），而邻国克罗地亚为 1555 欧元（1770 美元）——与欧盟成员国克罗地亚相比，两者相差约 51%。

生活水平的差异是影响选民重返投票站之际公众辩论的几个问题之一。

塞尔维亚当前的政治危机是在该国尚未解决的战争遗留问题背景下发生的。

二十多年前，北约在科索沃战争期间对当时的南斯拉夫联盟共和国发动了轰炸行动。当时，塞尔维亚由斯洛博丹·米洛舍维奇统治。

上世纪90年代巴尔干战争的遗留问题在政治上仍然十分敏感。

9月初，波斯尼亚塞族军队前指挥官拉特科·姆拉迪奇在贝尔格莱德下葬。他被国际法庭判处在波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那战争期间犯下的种族灭绝罪和战争罪。

他的葬礼有多位塞尔维亚政府部长出席，并举行了军礼，这引发了国际社会的批评。

欧盟外交政策负责人卡娅·卡拉斯和欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩表示，欧盟绝不容忍任何美化战争罪行的人。

因此，10 月份的选举不仅将被视为塞尔维亚国内政治未来的角逐，而且还将被视为预示着该国的发展方向及其与西巴尔干其他国家关系的一次重要事件。