Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic resigned Sunday, ending his second and final five-year term and triggering the process for an early presidential election, according to Reuters.
Vucic stepped down seven months before his term was due to end, as Serbia prepares for a snap parliamentary election on Oct. 25.
His resignation could allow him to seek the position of prime minister if his Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, forms the next government.
“This is the last evening for me in this building,” Vucic told hundreds of supporters gathered outside the presidential palace in Belgrade shortly before submitting his resignation.
“I have faithfully served you and my fatherland, Serbia ... I am proud of what we have done together,” he said.
Under Serbia’s Constitution, outgoing Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic will serve as interim president until a new president is elected.
The presidential election must be completed within 90 days, with Vucic saying the first round is expected by the end of December.
The Oct. 25 parliamentary election will pit Vucic’s SNS and its allies against the student-led Students Win movement and European Serbia, an alliance of pro-Western opposition parties.
The groups have yet to nominate their presidential candidates.
Vucic had announced earlier this month that he would resign and run for prime minister in the parliamentary election.
His decision comes after nearly two years of student-led anti-corruption protests that followed the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people.
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