Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic resigns to run for prime minister in October elections– www.france24.com

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic resigned Sunday ahead of the upcoming October 25 parliamentary elections.

Vucic, who has been Serbia’s prime minister or president since 2014, had announced that he would resign the presidency so he can formally pursue a bid to become prime minister if his right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party wins the October vote.

Vucic’s second presidential term would otherwise end in May next year. He is banned by the Serbian Constitution from seeking a third term

Hundreds of Vucic’s supporters cheered him in front of the Presidency building in Belgrade’s city ​centre.

“This is the last evening for me ‌in this building,” he told the flag-waving crowd minutes before resigning.

“I have faithfully served you and my fatherland, Serbia …  I ‌am proud of what we have done together,” he said.

The snap elections were a key demand of a student-led movement sparked by the November 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people and was widely blamed on corruption.