Serbia: President Vučić resigns

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has resigned from the presidency, ahead of early parliamentary elections in which he is expected to run as the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) candidate for prime minister, according to euractiv.com.

The resignation comes during Vučić’s second presidential term. Under the Serbian Constitution, he cannot run for a third presidential term.

During the transition period, the duties of president will be temporarily exercised by the outgoing parliament speaker and one of the SNS’s senior leaders, Ana Brnabić.

Vučić had previously warned of his resignation, while the formal decision was announced on Sunday. Under Serbian law, new presidential elections must be held within three months of the president’s resignation.

This means Serbia is expected to hold two electoral processes this year: the early parliamentary elections, planned for October 25, and then the early presidential elections.

Before resigning, Vučić told the public broadcaster RTS that the presidential elections would be called more than a month after the parliamentary elections.

“Full focus and absolute concentration must be on the parliamentary elections and victory, because the parliamentary elections will determine Serbia’s path,” Vučić said.

Meanwhile, the Serbian student movement, which is competing through the so-called “Student List,” is challenging the SNS in the upcoming elections. RTS had invited Vučić and Ilija Srdanović, the student list’s top candidate, to a televised debate.

Representatives of the student movement have asked for more details on the format, topics, duration and participants in the debate, as well as equal and fair coverage of all participants in the campaign.

According to polls cited in reports, the SNS and the Student List currently constitute two of the main political forces in the parliamentary race, although polls differ in their assessments of the possible outcome.

Meanwhile, the presidential race remains unclear, as candidates have not been officially announced and the campaign for the presidential elections has not yet received the same public attention.