Serbia went to the polls on Sunday for early parliamentary elections, with list leader "Aleksandar Vucic – United Serbia" Aleksandar Vucic voting in Belgrade. After voting, he verbally clashed with Croatian journalists, interrupting them as they attempted to ask questions and stating that Serbian media had priority.
During his address, Vucic repeatedly argued with Croatian journalists, taking issue with their interest in Serbian elections. "You Croats, wait, wait, wait, just a little. You Croats are so dear to me and I am so happy to see you in such numbers that I don't know what to say to you. Just be patient a little, you are not the only ones here, these are Serbian, not Croatian, elections," he said. He added: "I know that you care a lot about these elections, but just be patient a little. I have already answered one Croat. Let's now do a few others."
When Croatian journalists asked him to explain his claims about Croatian interference in Serbian elections, Vucic did not cite a specific case. Reporter Hrvoje Zovko of Večernji list asked Vucic to provide a concrete example on which he based his claim that Croatia was interfering in Serbian elections, but Vucic again attacked Croatian media. "You don't need to see any evidence. It is enough to open any of your newspapers, any of your portals, or watch any of your television channels. From insults, lies, the most nonsensical, worse than those uttered by N1 and Nova RS, to direct interference in the campaign in every possible way and support for one side," he said. He added: "If you don't see that, then you have some other problem, and it is not connected with evidence, but with whether you see well and can read. Well, congratulations to you on that."
Asked what he would do if he lost the elections, Vucic replied: "First I will cheer you up, and then I will see what I will do next. And what will you do when we win tonight?" After being told that journalists would report, he said: "You will be sad, it seems to me, but I am sorry. Tomorrow you will be happy because we will do everything to make you feel better here. Don't worry. I answered you the way I wanted, not the way you wanted." Vucic also stated that Croatia must show more respect for Serbia and accused it of interfering in Serbia's internal political processes. "You need to interfere less in our electoral processes, to insult Serbia less on a daily basis. Wait, you Croats, these are Serbian, not Croatian, elections. Be patient a little, I know you care," he stated.
After voting, Vucic said he would accept the election result regardless of the outcome. "As I have always said, you can win and lose elections. We will always act responsibly; if we lose, we will acknowledge the will of the voters; if we win, no one will take it away, and that is all," he said. He added that Serbia was choosing "in which direction it is going, whether it is going into the future or the past, into the time of plunderous privatisations, economic destruction of the country, political humiliation of the nation and the whole state." He stated: "We will see how the people decide, the will of the people is the will of God." He also said: "I hope the elections will pass without incident and I believe we will hear the democratic will of the citizens."
Vucic said that the first clearer estimates of the results could be known between 22:00 and 23:00. "Around 22:00, 22:30, 23:00 we will know who won, if nothing else. Then we will have the first or preliminary estimate of the final result," he said. He added that he had read claims in Croatian media that he was "finished" and stated that more would be known after the counting of votes. Asked about the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its significance for future relations, Vucic said that different political actors receive support from different people. "I am happy, you know, someone gets support from Natasha Kandic and from Sonja Biserko, someone gets it from Fico, Putin... Everyone as they should," he said.
Serbia went to the polls for early parliamentary elections that could be the most important test of Aleksandar Vucic's rule in the last 14 years. Vucic's bloc faces a serious threat for the first time from a political force born out of student protests following the collapse of a canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, in which 16 people died in November 2024. Eighteen lists are competing for 250 seats in the National Assembly, of which nine have minority status. Slightly more than 6.45 million voters have the right to vote, and the electoral threshold for entry into parliament is three per cent, except for minority lists. Polling stations opened at 07:00 and close at 20:00.
Election day is marked by unusually high turnout. By 10:00, 19.5 per cent of voters had cast their ballots, which is double the figure in 2023, when turnout at the same time was 9.8 per cent, according to data from the non-governmental organisation CRTA. The student list published an estimate on Instagram that 1,200,000 people, or 19.7 per cent of citizens, had voted by 10:00. According to an estimate by Ipsos and Cesid, based on 93.7 per cent of the processed sample, 27.3 per cent of voters had voted by 11:00, while in the 2023 elections 15.1 per cent of voters had voted by 11:00. Queues formed in Zagreb for the Serbian parliamentary elections, and in both Croatia and Serbia, parliamentary elections are being followed by unusually high voter turnout.
Leader of the Student List Ilija Srdanovic voted in the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Novi Sad, at polling station 58 at the "Prva vojvođanska brigada" Primary School. He expressed hope for peaceful and democratic elections in Serbia and expects record turnout and a legitimate new government that will lead the country to a better future. "Today we will legitimately elect a new government in Serbia," he said.
President of the Serbian Assembly and acting President of the Republic Ana Brnabic voted at around 10:30 in the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Belgrade, at polling station number 34 at the Design School, in Krupanjska Street. Ana Brnabic is a candidate for MP on the electoral list "Aleksandar Vucic – United Serbia". Minister of the Interior in the technical mandate and leader of the "Factor of Stability" list Ivica Dacic voted this morning in a local community in Dedinje, at polling station number 35, accompanied by his wife Sanja and son Luka. After voting, he stated that he expects a stable result for his coalition Factor of Stability and stated that it is extremely important for Serbia to preserve peace and political stability. He claimed that police were present in front of the polling station but did not react. According to polls, Dacic's list should win third place in the elections.
President of the Serbian government in the technical mandate, Prof. Dr. Djuro Macut, voted in the extraordinary parliamentary elections in Belgrade's Voždovac district. At around 08:45, he voted with his family at polling station 93 at the "Karađorđe" Primary School, where he spent more than an hour in the queue due to unprecedented congestion. Voting at that polling station will only continue after the complete list of registered voters arrives.
Election day was also marked by numerous incidents and irregularities. Due to technical problems, seven polling stations did not open at 07:00. At polling station number 35 in Čukarica, the opening of the polling station was delayed by an hour, and the police had to intervene. In Belgrade, the police intervened because a coffee maker did not want to leave the polling station. At the call of citizens, an N1 team visited the address Skadarska 51 in Belgrade, where, according to citizen suspicions, a call centre of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is located, from which pressure is allegedly being exerted on voters. Belgrade resident Miloš Petrović voted in Banja Luka after an unauthorised change of polling station and, due to suspicion of manipulation, announces a lawsuit. In Zaječar, suspicions of possible vote-buying emerged at today's parliamentary elections.
Serbs from Kosovo set off by car and bus to vote in Serbia, and there are queues at the border. At the polling station in Raška, where voters from northern Kosovo vote, large queues were recorded, and in the first half hour after the opening of the polling stations, two women collapsed. Long queues are in front of polling stations in Serbia and abroad, and a large number of Serbian citizens living abroad have been waiting in queues since morning to vote. In the centre of Belgrade, public transport routes have been changed on the section from Slavija to Terazije, and part of the road from the intersection near London to Terazije has been closed to traffic with protective barriers.
