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Serbia’s government will propose dissolving parliament later Monday, paving the way for a snap election later this year, state news agency Tanjug reported.
The government will hold an extraordinary session at 3:30 p.m. local time, during which Prime Minister Djuro Macut will propose dissolving the National Assembly, Tanjug reported, citing a government official.
Macut is expected to address the public after the session.
A motion to dissolve parliament is a required step before elections can be announced, the report said.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told state broadcaster RTS in late August that early elections would likely be held in October, the strongest signal yet that a snap vote demanded by long-running protests was imminent.
“Parliamentary elections in Serbia will most likely take place either on October 18 or October 25,” Vucic said.
“We will know in a few days,” he added.
The next parliamentary elections in Serbia are not due until December 2027. However, Vucic has repeatedly said a snap vote would be held earlier.
The expected move would allow Vucic, whose Serbian Progressive Party nominated him Saturday to run for prime minister, to try to tighten his grip on Serbian politics after nearly two years of student-led protests.
Vucic, who has led the country as president or prime minister for 12 years, has faced anti-corruption demonstrations triggered by the collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad in November 2024, which killed 16 people.
The tragedy became a symbol of perceived corruption in Serbia and set off rolling demonstrations, largely led by students, calling for accountability and eventually early elections.
The last major rally, held in Belgrade in May, drew approximately 180,000 people, according to an independent counting body.
The protests have been the largest since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 and have posed the biggest challenge to Vucic’s more than decade-long rule.
The opposition and demonstrators accuse Vucic and his allies of violence against political opponents, rampant corruption, ties with organized crime and stifling media freedoms. Vucic and his allies deny the accusations.
Vucic, a close ally of Moscow, recently announced that he would resign as president when elections were called.
His party colleagues have hinted that they would then support him as prime minister if they win, a move that would keep Vucic as the central figure of power in Serbia.
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