Serbia votes as students seek to unseat Aleksandar Vucic in snap election

BELGRADE — Serbia is voting on Sunday as a mass student protest movement seeks to unseat long-time populist ​leader Aleksandar Vucic in the biggest challenge to his rule for more than a decade.

The snap parliamentary elections, called by Vucic in ‌September, come after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024. The students have since gained widespread support.

Unusually long lines formed at polling stations in Belgrade and Novi Sad before the start of voting at 7 a.m.. Voting ​ends at 8 p.m. with first indications of results expected around two hours later.

A student victory would be a profound political shift in ​the Balkan country of some 6 million people, reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban in April. It also potentially ⁠offers a blueprint for other student movements across Europe, which have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest, in some cases violently, against poor education standards and ​a lack of prospects.

But Vucic, who resigned from his second term as president to run again for prime minister, is…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business