The resignation ends his second five-year term early; the Serbian constitution prohibits a third presidential term, leaving the parliamentary route as the available path to retaining executive authority. Under Serbia's constitutional arrangement, the prime minister holds formally greater powers than the president, though Vučić shaped the office differently during his 12 years at the top of Serbian politics, routinely presiding over government sessions and announcing major decisions from the presidential position.
Ana Brnabić, outgoing parliamentary speaker and close Vučić ally, becomes acting president. She will hand that role to whoever emerges as the new parliamentary speaker after the October vote, who then appoints the prime minister and schedules a presidential election.
The election arrives after nearly two years of sustained protest rooted in the November 2024 collapse of a station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people. The student-led movement that demanded accountability for that disaster has broadened into a campaign against corruption and institutional capture, and it is now contesting the election directly with a list of academics, professionals and athletes. Analysts describe the race as tight, with the two main forces polling closely.
Serbia's independent Bureau for Social Research has filed a complaint alleging Vučić used the presidency to campaign for his party. The anti-corruption authorities responsible for the complaint are under government control and have not responded.
Whether the ballot produces a transfer of power or confirms 14 more years of SNS dominance is the question Serbia's institutions — already shaped substantially by that party — will now have to process.
Gabriel Fenech 
Alexandre Noir 
Dua Mifsud