Serbia's opposition win echoes Hungary's, as Vučić concedes just like Orbán
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat in parliamentary elections, mirroring Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's concession in April. In both countries, voter mobilisation and election monitors helped the opposition win.
In Serbia's parliamentary election, the Student List, created by the country's student movement, won 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament. President Aleksandar Vučić, who had held power for 14 years, conceded defeat at exactly 21:30 on Sunday evening. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, in office for 16 years, did the same at the same time on 12 April. In Hungary, Péter Magyar's Tisza party won 140 seats in the 199-seat parliament. Few observers expected either leader to accept defeat peacefully.
The role of monitors
The DE civic action group from Hungary sent 70 election monitors to Serbia last weekend. Together with student movement representatives, they visited polling stations in the northern province of Vojvodina. During the summer, the group had shared its experience from the Hungarian election with Serbian students. A key method was to identify "infected" polling districts in advance, where unusually high support for the governing party in earlier elections suggested voter intimidation or "chain voting".
Péter Klemm, a student activist from Subotica, said groups of masked Vučić supporters began gathering near polling stations from about 16:00. Mobile teams were sent in and filmed everything. He believes 20 to 30 volunteers at each threatened station deterred intimidation and fraud.
Ties and possible prosecution
The two leaders were allies. Both are close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and both back Milorad Dodik, the separatist leader of the Bosnian Serbs. A high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest is being built with Chinese finance. There has been speculation that Vučić spoke to Orbán twice on Sunday night; Vučić denies speaking to him before conceding but acknowledges the later call. Orbán declined to comment to the BBC.
Both men may now face prosecution for corruption and abuse of power. Hungarian companies close to Orbán were involved in the Novi Sad railway station project, whose canopy collapsed on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people and sparking the Serbian student movement.
