Serbia has moved closer to a snap parliamentary election after Prime Minister Đuro Macut’s government asked President Aleksandar Vučić to dissolve parliament and call an early vote, potentially setting up the strongest electoral challenge to Vučić’s political camp in years. The vote has been a central demand of student-led protests triggered by the November 2024 collapse of a railway-station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. The movement has since developed plans to field its own electoral list, a transformation explored in an October 2025 TVP World analysis. The political crisis coincides with fresh tensions between Belgrade and Brussels after senior Serbian officials attended the funeral of Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb military commander convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the official support and the attendance of senior Serbian officials “deeply regrettable.” Vučić has been nominated by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, as its candidate for prime minister in the expected election.
