Serbia: President Vucic resigns to become prime minister

As expected, President Aleksandar Vucic has resigned from office in the EU candidate country Serbia because he wants to become head of government. “Today is the day I resign,” Vucic said in a speech on state television station RTS. A date for the new presidential election was not initially given. According to the constitution, it must take place in three months at the latest.

Last official act: opposition members pardoned

As his last official act before his resignation, he pardoned 49 people or had their prosecution stopped, Vucic said. These include 23 people who were targeted by the judiciary in the context of the opposition student protests.

The partially autocratic politician wants to run as the lead candidate of his Progress Party in the early parliamentary elections on October 25th and, if he wins, become Prime Minister. The office of head of state will initially be assumed provisionally by Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic, a political comrade-in-arms of Vucic.

According to experts, the 56-year-old hopes that this step will consolidate his power. His term as head of state would have ended next year - and after two mandates he is not allowed to run again.

Constant pressure on Vucic after a fatal accident at the train station

Vucic has been under great pressure domestically from a protest movement largely organized by students since the canopy of a train station in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. The demonstrators blame government corruption and sloppiness on the part of the authorities for the accident and are demanding Vucic's resignation.

As a first step to enable a change from the office of head of state to the head of government, Vucic dissolved the people's representation at the beginning of September and scheduled early parliamentary elections for October 25th. Parliamentary elections in Serbia are scheduled every four years. The last two parliamentary elections - in December 2023 and April 2022 - were also brought forward at Vucic's request.

Swing politics between East and West

When it comes to foreign policy, Vucic maneuvers between the EU, the USA and Russia. According to his own statements, he only recently spoke on the phone with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to ensure continued low-cost gas deliveries from Russia to Serbia. In August he also agreed to cooperate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his official visit to Belgrade. Serbia's government received criticism from several EU representatives for promoting the glorification of convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic, who recently died in custody in The Hague. Mladic was buried with military honors in Belgrade.

Vucic has been active in Serbian politics for decades. From 1998 to 2000 he was Minister of Information under the then Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic (1941-2006), who was indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for, among other things, genocide and died in custody before the verdict was announced. Vucic was Defense Minister from 2012 to 2013 and Serbia's Prime Minister from 2014 to 2017. He was elected president for the first time in 2017, and his second mandate in this position ran since 2022. In Serbia, the president's mandate is five years.