Vucic Named SNS Candidate for Prime Minister in Nis

The Serbian Progressive Party’s Main Board voted unanimously on Saturday, September 5, at the National Theatre in Nis, to enter the upcoming snap parliamentary elections with the list “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia,” to make Aleksandar Vucic its list leader, and to name him the party’s candidate for prime minister. At the same session, the president of Serbia laid out, for the first time, the exact order of state obligations he intends to complete before stepping down from the presidency.

According to reports from the scene, the session opened at 11 a.m. SNS president Milos Vucevic opened the meeting and proposed a three-point agenda: adopting the minutes of the previous session, current political issues including the choice of list leader and prime ministerial candidate, and other business. The agenda was adopted unanimously. Voting was briefly interrupted when Vucic entered the hall, greeted by applause and chants of “Aco, Serb” from party members. According to a report from B92, which published news of the session at 11:47 a.m., that moment coincides with the time of publication, while other outlets reported that the session itself began earlier, at 11 a.m., meaning Vucic’s entrance and the pause in voting came later during the proceedings rather than at the opening.

Who Nominated Vucic as List Leader?

The proposal to make Vucic the list leader came from the speaker of Serbia’s National Assembly, Ana Brnabic, who opened her remarks by recalling the violence in Nis on March 21, 2025. “Aleksandar Vucic as the leader of our list, to victory,” Brnabic told the Main Board. The decision was then formally announced at the end of the session by Vucevic: “I hereby state that the Main Board of the Serbian Progressive Party has made a unanimous decision that in the upcoming elections we will run with the list Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia, that the list leader and the first name on the list is Aleksandar Vucic, and that Aleksandar Vucic is our candidate for prime minister,” the SNS president said. Vucevic then called on party members to begin collecting signatures for the list, adding: “The campaign is starting, the elections are right in front of us. As President Vucic said: let’s go win!”

Vucic himself described the Main Board’s decision as a great honor. “This trust you have given me today is an enormous honor for me. We will see what the people have to say,” he said, adding that no other party defends Serbia’s national and state interests more precisely, more realistically, more seriously, or more responsibly. He recalled that SNS was founded 18 years ago and said the coming term would most likely be his last.

When Will Vucic Resign as President?

The president of Serbia specified that he will not resign from the presidency immediately, but only after fulfilling a series of state obligations already on his calendar. He listed the marking of the Day of Serbian Unity, Freedom, and the National Flag on September 15, a military exercise on the Pester plateau, a ceremonial academy in Banja Luka, a trip to New York to address the United Nations, a reception for Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and a possible visit to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. “When I return, I will resign and become an ordinary citizen who goes to talk with citizens, with the people,” Vucic said, according to Tanjug.

For the election campaign, he announced he would travel from village to village and town to town in a rented truck. By his own count, roughly fifty days remain until election day. Vucic pinned the date down more precisely in his address to the session, saying: “And Serbia is winning. To victory on October 25.” That marked the first time October 25 was mentioned as the date around which the party is building its campaign timeline, even though the official election call, expected on September 9 or 10, has yet to be made.

What Has Vucic Announced for the Next Government?

In his Nis address, Vucic also sketched the outlines of the next government, which he said should be smaller and more efficient than previous ones, with 12 ministers and a prime minister at its head. He announced that he has prepared a draft of a new law on ministries, which he will present to the public as soon as he resigns as president, along with a requirement that every future minister hold their ministry’s board meetings outside Belgrade at least twice a month.

Speaking about the city hosting the session, Vucic also touted the government’s record there: he cited 12 factories he says have been brought to Nis, investment in healthcare and the Science and Technology Park, whose renovation he toured ahead of the session, and the start of work on the Belgrade-Nis high-speed rail line. “I personally took part in bringing in those factories, all 12 of them. Nis is one of the cities that has made the greatest progress in record time,” he said. He also struck a note of self-criticism while summing up: “We have done a great deal. I am proud of it. Could it have been better? It can always be better.”

In the foreign policy portion of his remarks, Vucic said foreign services must not be allowed to run Serbia’s state policy, while he predicted a more decisive win in Nis than in the last election, when he said SNS won narrowly there: “This will be a democratic contest. We will beat them. Last time we barely won, this time we will beat them decisively.” He struck a similar note just before the session began: “We will beat them in Nis. Last time we barely won, this time we will win more convincingly.”

According to a survey by the Faktor Plus agency, cited by the 021 news portal, SNS would win 47.2 percent of the vote in the upcoming election, though Vucic said he does not consider that poll reliable. No official reaction from the opposition to the Main Board’s decision had arrived by the time of this report.

Vucic closed his remarks outside the National Theatre in Nis, after the session, with a call to those gathered: “That is why I am inviting you, in the month and a half or so before the elections, to choose Serbia’s future as an independent and free country.” With the formal decision on the list and the prime ministerial candidate now made, the last obstacle before the official election call, expected on September 9 or 10, has been cleared, while the date of the president’s resignation still depends on the completion of the state obligations he listed.