The chairman of Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SPP), Miloš Vučević, said that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in the country in the fall, with the vote expected in September, October or November. According to him, it is still unclear whether the two elections will take place simultaneously or separately, and the party has not discussed possible candidates for head of state. This is clear from a publication on the SPP website.
"It is undeniable that we are facing parliamentary and presidential elections", Vučević said in an interview with the weekly "Kompas", published on the SPP website. "I don't know whether they will be held simultaneously or separately, but since the president announced that he would resign in a few weeks, it means that we are also facing presidential elections", he added.
Vučević, who resigned as prime minister at the end of January 2025 under pressure from student protests, described the upcoming vote as probably the most difficult for the SPP since 2012.
"I hope that we are walking in one column with President Vučić, that we will be a united team. We see him as a leader and someone (who) can lead the SPP list in the parliamentary elections," he said.
On June 27, during an event dedicated to Vidovden, Aleksandar Vučić told his supporters that he would remain president for only a few more weeks and that if the SPP asked him to, he would help the party restore the trust of voters. However, he did not specify a date for the parliamentary elections, the scheduling of which is within the powers of the president.
His statements gave rise to speculation that, after a possible resignation as president, he could lead the SPP list in the parliamentary vote and subsequently become prime minister. A day later, Vučević said he expected Vučić not only to lead the party's candidate list, but also to be the next prime minister of Serbia.
Analysts see such a move as an attempt by Vučić to maintain his leading political role, while the opposition sees it as a political maneuver against the backdrop of the ongoing crisis and anti-government protests that began after the tragedy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, when the concrete canopy of the recently renovated railway station collapsed, killing 16 people. The student movement that organized the protests accuses the authorities of corruption and demands early elections.