Vucic: Resignation May Come Sooner, Vote in July or Autumn
The president said he could resign earlier than the three to four months he had announced, that he is already packing books at the Presidency, and that elections will be on July 12 or between October and late November.
- Vucic said he could resign even earlier than the three to four months he had announced.
- Elections, he said, would be held on July 12 or between October and late November.
- The name of the SNS list is set to be unveiled at a rally on June 27 outside the National Assembly.
- He said he has begun packing books at the Presidency and is giving away around 1,200 volumes.
President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic has set out the timing of his departure from the top of the state, saying he could resign even sooner than he had previously suggested. Instead of the three to four months he had announced, he said, it could happen earlier. The date of the elections, in his account, falls somewhere between July 12 and an autumn slot stretching from October to late November this year.
Vucic also confirmed his departure with a concrete gesture. He said he had started packing books at the Presidency and was giving away around 1,200 titles from his personal library. He himself framed the move in the context of the approaching end of his presidential term, and the remark about packing books was widely read as a signal that the decision to step down is closer than expected.
From what the president laid out, two questions remain open for the party leadership and for voters alike: the exact date of the vote and the name of the list entering the election cycle. Both should be settled in the coming weeks.
What does the new timing actually change?
Moving the date forward is no technicality. If the elections were held as soon as July 12, the campaign would unfold in mid-summer, a period of lower turnout and a shorter window for mobilization. An autumn slot, from October to late November, allows more time to organize but also prolongs the stretch of political uncertainty. The choice between the two scenarios is not merely logistical; it shapes who enters the race better prepared.
Vucic announced that he would present the name of the Serbian Progressive Party list on June 27, at a rally outside the National Assembly. That signals the SNS is entering this cycle under fresh branding rather than a previously used name. Unveiling the name in front of the parliament building also carries a symbolic message about how the governing party wants to frame the campaign.
Speaking about his future role, the president said he was considering a candidacy for prime minister after resigning as president of the Republic. That would mean moving from the highest constitutional office to an executive post, a step that would rearrange the distribution of power at the top, though not necessarily its center.
Who temporarily takes over the duties?
Should Vucic resign as president of the Republic, Speaker of the National Assembly Ana Brnabic would, under the constitutional mechanism, temporarily combine the three most important state functions until elections are held and new bodies are constituted. That transitional period, however brief, places a large share of institutional responsibility in one set of hands, which is in itself a subject for debate about the balance of power.
The opposition will most likely read the date and the manner of the announcement as an attempt to control the tempo of the campaign, while the authorities will present the timeline as an orderly and planned process. Between those two readings stands the voter, who for now has only a framework: summer or autumn, a new list name on June 27, and a president packing his books.
Does a summer or an autumn election date strike you as the better choice for democratic debate?
