The long-serving leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has conceded defeat, ushering in a seismic political shift after a historic election that saw the increasingly authoritarian leader pitted against a student-led movement that had spent two years protesting against his government.
Vučić pointed to preliminary results that suggested voters had overwhelmingly backed the students, potentially giving them a majority in the country’s 250-seat parliament.
As news broke that Vučić’s 12 years in power had come to an end, celebrations erupted on the streets of Belgrade and other cities.
In the capital, Ivana, 43, was ecstatic. “This feels like New Year’s Eve to me, like three New Year’s Eves all at once, really,” she said. “We can finally breathe again.” She added that she was hoping for swift accountability for top members of the ousted regime, a key campaign pledge from the Student List.
Others offered handshakes, high fives and hugs to police officers in the streets, while a chorus of honking horns rang out from passing cars.
At the headquarters of the Student List, supporters chanted “Victory, victory!” as they applauded, cried and traded hugs. “Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard,” said Radomir Saičić, a professor at Belgrade University, speaking on behalf of the students at their headquarters. “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.”
The scenes of joy came hours after a record number of voters turned up to cast their ballot on Sunday. Across the country, long lines snaked out of polling stations, with some reporting wait times of up to two hours. By 7pm local time pollsters and monitors CeSID and Ipsos put the turnout at 67.6 percent, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992.
The high turnout, along with the estimated 150,000 people who flocked to the students’ final pre-election rally last week in Belgrade, fueled early speculation that the students may have rallied enough support to launch a new political era in the Balkan country.
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