His decision to run for prime minister is widely seen as an attempt to retain his central position in Serbian politics. Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s presidential term was set to end in May 2027 and, having been elected to the role two times previously, he would not have been eligible to run again. <\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s principal accomplishment while in power has been to consolidate an informal network of power. The SNS has been the ruling party in Serbia for 14 years and has immense control over access to social benefits in the country, from education and employment to public contracts and legal enforcement. <\/p>\n
People who receive employment, contracts for commercial projects or other benefits through the ruling party are obligated to become party members or supporters and to recruit their family, friends, and neighbours into the network. My 2025 research<\/a> explains these relationships in detail. <\/p>\n This system has sustained Vu\u010di\u0107 and his party\u2019s strength in every election since 2014. But unlike these previous elections, the outcome of the upcoming poll is not entirely predictable in advance. <\/p>\n A July survey<\/a> had the so-called Student List, which has emerged as the main opposition to Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s party, well ahead. Other polling<\/a> has Vu\u010di\u0107 with a lead. While this makes prediction impossible, the uncertainty itself is notable. <\/p>\n While in office, Vu\u010di\u0107 has liked to point to ambitious infrastructure projects that have been completed ahead of schedule. They have often been completed early because important steps \u2013 such as competitive bidding, design review and safety inspection \u2013 were passed over<\/a>. <\/p>\n One of the projects completed at record speed was the renovation of the main railway station in Novi Sad, a city in northern Serbia. The consequence of Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s network-based style of building became clear shortly after the station reopened. <\/p>\n On November 1 2024, a concrete canopy covering the route from the platforms to the station building collapsed. Fifteen people were killed immediately in the disaster, and another died from their injuries afterwards. <\/p>\n Many Serbians believe<\/a> the tragedy could have been prevented with proper oversight and quality standards, arguing that these omissions reflect a common issue in state-funded projects throughout the country. One engineering consultant on the project, Zoran Djajic, has also claimed his safety warnings were ignored<\/a>. <\/p>\n Since the disaster, protests led mostly by university students have been constant. An early protest slogan put the source of the students\u2019 dissatisfaction with Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s regime succinctly: \u201cCorruption kills\u201d<\/a>. By the middle of 2025, the demands of the student protests had expanded to include new elections, which were finally called in September 2026. <\/p>\nWidespread discontent<\/h2>\n
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