Vucic: Election Called for September 9 or 10
Serbia's president said on TV Informer he will call elections on September 9 or 10 and is preparing seriously to become prime minister, with the smallest government in Serbia's history.
President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said he will call early parliamentary elections within the next few days, most likely on the morning of September 9 or 10. He made the announcement on the evening of September 4, appearing on the Srpski dnevnik program on TV Informer, where he specified the date for the first time and said he is seriously preparing to take over as prime minister.
In the next few days I will call the elections. I think it will be September 9 or 10, in the morning. The tenth is probably the last day.
The deadline he mentioned is not arbitrary. Voting is set for October 25, and the law requires that between 45 and 60 days pass between calling an election and election day itself. Counting back from that date, September 10 is the last day the election can legally be called, which means Vucic’s announcement effectively pushes the decision right up to the edge of the deadline.
A prime minister and no more than 12 ministers
Vucic also sketched out what he would offer as a candidate for prime minister, describing it as, in his words, the smallest cabinet in Serbia’s history.
My idea is for the next government to have a prime minister and a minimum and maximum of 12 ministers. So this would be the smallest government in our history, but made up of hardworking, energetic people who are capable of taking on responsibility, people who know they will be there not to enjoy themselves, but to work in the interest of citizens.
He added that fewer ministers would mean considerably broader authority for each of them compared with the current ministries, and that he would put that pledge in writing before the public.
So that will be my promise to the citizens, and I will sign it. The ministries and their areas of responsibility will be much larger than each of their current individual ones. Ministers always fight over authority. When you pass a law on the government and ministries, it turns into a free for all. But when you ask them what they have actually done, and whether they have devoted themselves to each of those enormous areas, of course they have not.
Outlets that carried the statement differ slightly in how they quote the number of ministers. N1, Nova and B92 quote Vucic as saying “a prime minister and a minimum and maximum of 12 ministers,” while 021 and Danas report his proposal as “a prime minister and 12 ministers,” without the addition about a minimum. The message is the same either way, twelve as the upper limit, but the exact wording is not identical from outlet to outlet. In that version, Vucic also said he would lay out his full program only after completing his presidential term.
If I get people’s support to be a candidate for prime minister, I will tell you just one thing today, and I will present that program once I finish my presidential term.
This, he said, is the first of two proposals. He would present the second only after resigning as president, should he win his party’s backing for the candidacy. Vucic added that if that happens, this would most likely be his last term in office.
The current government has 30 ministers
A look at the current setup shows the scale of the cut Vucic is proposing. The government of Djuro Macut, which took office on April 16, 2025, and is the nineteenth government since Serbia introduced a multi-party system, has 31 members in total: a prime minister and 30 ministers. Of those, 25 hold a specific portfolio, while five are without one. It was formed by a coalition of nine parties, with Sinisa Mali as first deputy prime minister and Ivica Dacic and Adrijana Mesarovic as deputy prime ministers. Compared with that cabinet, Vucic’s proposal of a prime minister and no more than 12 ministers would cut the government by more than half.
SNS Main Board meets in Nis
Vucic made the announcement ahead of a session of the Main Board of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), scheduled for September 5 at 11 a.m. at the National Theatre in Nis. According to Vucic, the agenda includes about ten items, among them a dedicated program for southern Serbia. SNS leader Milos Vucevic had earlier announced that the Main Board would settle the party’s election list at that session, and that the party wants Vucic himself to head it as its candidate for prime minister.
Also feeding into the moment is a poll by the Faktor plus agency, published on September 4, which puts support for the Serbian Progressive Party at 47.2 percent. This outlet had previously reported that the Republic Election Commission (REC) was set to meet on Thursday to prepare for the October 25 vote. It is now clear that the decision to call the election itself will come before that date, most likely as early as tomorrow or Wednesday, September 9 or 10, in the morning.
