Zagreb, 15 September 2026 (Hina/MIA) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said Monday on pro-government TV Pink that he would resign Sept. 27 to campaign for the Oct. 25 parliamentary election "as an ordinary citizen."

Serbia's president heads the SNS Serbian Progressive Party electoral list and hopes to become prime minister if the party wins.

Also Monday, Serbian students, joined by thousands of people in a march through central Belgrade to the headquarters of the Electoral Commission, submitted their "Students Win" electoral list for the Oct. 25 election.

The procession carried a large banner reading "Students Win," boxes containing signatures of support and a replica of sculptor Ivan Meštrović's "The Victor," one of Belgrade's symbols.

Bikers led the march, while participants waved national, university and high school flags and chanted "Pump it up" and "Students Win."

The studetns' signature-collecting drive had been marred by procedural obstacles while they were trying to secure enough notaries to certify signatures. Thousands of people in Belgrade and across Serbia spent hours in queues over the weekend waiting to have signatures certified.

The Election Commission has so far approved lists led by Vučić's party and its coalition partners, and the Ivica Dačić-led Socialist Party of Serbia.

In his TV Pink appearance, Vučić said he had served citizens faithfully and led resistance to what he described as "externally imposed tyranny" and attempts to undermine state institutions, referring to months of student-led anti-government protests.

The protests, increasingly backed by citizens, were sparked by the deaths of 16 people in the Nov. 1, 2024, collapse of a canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, which had been renovated just months before the tragedy. Protesters have demanded democratic reforms, independent institutions and accountability regarding corruption.

Vučić said he would be personally dissatisfied if his electoral list won less than 50% of the vote. He also said he would concede defeat once 65-70% of the vote had been counted if the results showed his list had lost.

He accused students of illegally bringing politics into universities and said they were trying to turn them into election campaign headquarters.

Meanwhile, student protesters and supporting activist groups have faced pressure, threats, arrests and accusations of seeking to overthrow the constitutional order. They have also been targeted in physical attacks, with two female students injured during the protests when cars drove into groups of protesters.

In one case, a Novi Sad student suffered a broken jaw after SNS supporters and activists attacked her with a baseball bat while she was putting up posters calling for protests. Vučić later pardoned four suspects in the attack, ending their criminal prosecution.

The Serbian president dissolved parliament on Sept. 9 and called early parliamentary elections for Oct. 25.

The students' list contains 250 parliamentary candidates. They say it is the result of more than a year of student assemblies, university blockades and collective decision-making. It includes professors, doctors, artists, actors, athletes, activists, entrepreneurs and other people from across Serbia.

Vučić criticized their list ahead of its submission, calling it "nameless," "without a platform or plans" and "a list everyone is ashamed of." He also questioned whether supporters knew whom they were signing for.