site.btaThousands in Serbia Sign Petition Calling for Snap Parliamentary Elections

Thousands of people in Serbia on Sunday signed a petition demanding the scheduling of snap parliamentary elections, BTA learned from protesting students who are organizing the initiative.

In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, the campaign is taking place at several locations where specially prepared ballot forms are provided for anyone wishing to participate, with completed ballots placed in transparent boxes.

Maria Evcic, a 45-year-old mother of a first-year student, told BTA she wants early parliamentary elections so that her son has a future in Serbia. "If there are no elections and nothing changes afterwards, I will have to send my Dragan to my sister in Germany. Here, with [President Aleksandar] Vucic in charge, there is only pressure, poverty and a lack of democracy," Evcic said.

"I have been protesting for as long as I can remember, my children have too, and their children as well. It has already been 25 years since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, yet this country still has not established lasting democratic rules," said 65-year-old Jovan Dragsic.

"Elections, we need new elections, new faces, we need democrats," said 25-year-old Jelena Vasic, adding that the signature drive is a kind of referendum to show that the majority of Serbs want change through early voting.

The initiative in Belgrade was supported by many public figures, as well as by Prof. Vladan Djokic, Rector of the University of Belgrade.

The petition for elections was conducted at more than 500 locations across 100 municipalities nationwide, with the final number of signatories to be announced later, organizers told BTA.

On May 5, students first demanded that President Vucic call snap parliamentary elections, but he refused to do so. Recently, Vucic has made several statements that elections will be held in Serbia in 2026, without specifying a date.

Over the past year, mass anti-government protests led by students have been held across the country, triggered by an incident in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, where on November 1, 2024, the concrete canopy of a recently renovated railway station collapsed, killing 16 people and seriously injuring one.

The tragedy in Novi Sad sparked a wave of social unrest, which analysts say has become the greatest challenge in the long political career of President Vucic.