President Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia announced his resignation from office, declaring his intention to run for prime minister and lead his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25.

Having spent nearly 10 years as president, with a constitutional ban on a third term, Mr Vučić sought to retain power as prime minister as youths seek to wrest power from the SNS under the Students Win banner, with support from several opposition parties.

Mr Vučić, 56, became president in 2017 in a country where each presidential term lasts five years. His second term was scheduled to expire in May 2027, but he cut it short by resigning.

“Tomorrow morning I will hand over my duties to the parliament speaker. This is the last evening for me in this building,” Mr Vučić said on Sunday. “I served you faithfully. I served all of you, and our homeland Serbia, honourably and honestly throughout my presidential term. The fight is only beginning.” 

Ana Brnabić, Mr Vučić’s close ally, will take over as acting president until a new parliament is elected.

Mr Vucic’s tenure has been marred by protests triggered by the killing of 16 people who died from the collapse of a concrete canopy covering a railway station in Novi Sad in November 2024.

Tens of thousands of youths took to the streets in anti-government protests, demanding better governance and accountability for the lives lost. The protests have since morphed into a political movement seeking to unseat the SNS’s long-standing hold on Serbia.