BELGRADE, Serbia – Aleksandar Vučić resigned as president of Serbia on September 27, ending his second term early and clearing the way for him to campaign in the country’s October 25 snap parliamentary election as a candidate for prime minister.
Vučić announced the resignation at the Serbian presidency in Belgrade and signed a formal letter relinquishing the office. He said he wanted to participate in the parliamentary election as an ordinary citizen. Serbia’s government said he would hand presidential duties to National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabić the following morning.
The resignation comes less than a month before the parliamentary vote, which was already scheduled after Vučić dissolved the National Assembly and called early elections for October 25. The Republic Electoral Commission has since been conducting the electoral process and publishing decisions concerning candidate lists and voting arrangements.
Vučić has said he intends to lead the Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, in the parliamentary contest and seek the prime minister’s position if the party secures the parliamentary support needed to form a government.
What happens after the resignation
Serbia’s Constitution provides a clear succession process when a president leaves office before the end of a term.
Article 117 states that the president’s mandate ends on the day the resignation is submitted. Article 120 provides that the National Assembly speaker replaces the president when the presidential mandate ends prematurely and may exercise that role for a maximum of three months. The speaker must also call a presidential election to take place no later than three months after the vacancy occurs.
That means Brnabić becomes acting head of state rather than taking over as a new elected president.
Vučić said presidential elections must be held by the end of December. The exact election date had not yet been announced when he resigned.
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The transition to an acting presidency does not cancel the parliamentary election already scheduled for October 25.
The Republic Electoral Commission was still carrying out preparations for that vote as of September 25, including decisions on polling-station arrangements, election forms and certified electoral lists.
Why Vučić is leaving office now
Vučić was elected president for a second time in May 2022. Serbia’s Constitution limits an individual to two presidential terms, preventing him from seeking a third.
Rather than leave national politics after the end of his presidency, Vučić has chosen to pursue another route through the parliamentary system.
He had already announced that he intended to step down and seek the prime minister’s position. On September 14, he said he would resign on September 27 and campaign in the October 25 parliamentary election.
His resignation therefore does not represent a withdrawal from political life. It changes the office he is seeking.
Under Serbia’s constitutional system, the president and prime minister have different responsibilities. The president is directly elected, while the government exercises executive power and is accountable to the National Assembly. The prime minister is elected by parliament following the formation of a government.
Vučić cannot guarantee himself the prime ministership simply by leaving the presidency. The parliamentary election must first determine the composition of the National Assembly, after which a government has to be formed.
October vote follows months of political unrest
The parliamentary election comes after an extended period of demonstrations centered on the government and demands for institutional accountability.
The protests began after the November 1, 2024, collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad killed 16 people. Student-led demonstrations subsequently spread across Serbia, with protesters demanding accountability over the disaster and broader changes in the political system.
The government has rejected accusations of systemic responsibility for the collapse and allegations made by opponents concerning corruption and control of the media. Vučić and his allies have also disputed accusations made against the government during the protest movement.
The demonstrations eventually developed into a challenge at the ballot box.
A student-backed political movement formally entered the parliamentary contest in September, submitting an electoral list to the state election authorities. Several established opposition groups have expressed support for the movement or chosen not to compete separately.
The election will therefore bring competing political forces into the same institutional process that protesters have been demanding.
The parliamentary election was already under way
Vučić dissolved the National Assembly on September 9 after the Serbian government formally proposed an early election.
His decree dissolved the parliament elected in December 2023 and scheduled parliamentary elections for October 25. The government said the electoral timetable began once the decision entered into force.
The Republic Electoral Commission has since approved electoral lists, made decisions concerning national-minority lists and issued administrative rules governing polling places and the counting of votes.
The resignation therefore comes after the electoral process had already formally begun.
That distinction is important because the presidential transition and parliamentary election now run on parallel tracks.
Brnabić will temporarily exercise presidential duties
Ana Brnabić, the speaker of the National Assembly, is the constitutional successor to the presidential duties following Vučić’s resignation.
The Serbian government said she would assume the role of acting president on September 28. The Constitution limits the speaker’s replacement of the president to three months.
Her role is temporary.
The constitution requires a presidential election within the three-month period, meaning the country will have a direct presidential contest separate from the October parliamentary election.
Vučić’s decision therefore produces two separate electoral events in a relatively short period: the October 25 parliamentary election and a presidential election required by the constitutional deadline.
A change of office, not necessarily a change of political influence
Vučić has been a central figure in Serbian politics for more than a decade, serving as prime minister before becoming president in 2017. His political organization remains the governing force at the center of the upcoming parliamentary contest.
His resignation means that he will no longer occupy the country’s presidency during the parliamentary campaign.
It does not, however, remove him from the election.
Instead, it places him directly inside the parliamentary contest as a prospective head of government.
Whether that transition can occur depends on the composition of the next National Assembly and the subsequent process of forming a government. The constitution assigns the National Assembly a central role in electing the government and prime minister.
That makes October 25 important not simply because it is an early legislative election, but because its outcome will determine whether Vučić’s proposed move from president to prime minister can take place.
Serbia now faces a compressed political timetable
The country is entering a period in which parliamentary campaigning, an acting presidency and a separate presidential election will overlap.
The immediate date is October 25, when voters will choose a new National Assembly.
After that, the formation of the next government will determine whether Vučić can move into the prime minister’s office.
At the same time, the acting presidency will remain temporary, with the Constitution requiring a presidential election within three months of the vacancy.
For Serbia, the significance of Vučić’s resignation therefore lies less in the disappearance of a political figure than in the institutional transition it initiates.
The presidency is changing hands on an interim basis.
The parliamentary election is approaching.
And the country’s governing arrangement could be reshaped again when the presidential election follows.
Reporting Credit: Government of the Republic of Serbia — official announcement of Aleksandar Vučić’s resignation, transfer of presidential duties and October 25 parliamentary election; Constitutional Court of Serbia — constitutional provisions governing presidential resignation, replacement and the presidential election deadline; Republic Electoral Commission of Serbia — official electoral timetable, candidate-list decisions and preparations for the October 25 parliamentary election; National Assembly of Serbia — constitutional and parliamentary information relevant to the temporary presidential succession and government formation process.
