Vucic Announces Four SNS Rallies, Finale in Nis
Serbia's president announced three to four major SNS pre-election rallies, in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Nis, with the campaign's closing rally set for Nis ahead of the October 25 election.
Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia and the leading candidate on the “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” ballot, named the cities where the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) will hold its major pre-election rallies for the first time during an appearance on Pink Television on the evening of September 15. He said he expects three to four rallies, in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Nis, and that Nis will be where the campaign for the parliamentary election, set for October 25, comes to a close.
“We will have three, four big rallies: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac. I think we will have the closing rally in Nis,” Vucic said on Pink Television.
Why Nis
Vucic explained the choice of Nis for the campaign finale by pointing to the events surrounding the protests in March 2025, and to his intention to strengthen support in the south of Serbia.
“I want us to give extra support to Nis, and not just Nis, but also Prokuplje, Leskovac, Vranje, Pirot, the entire south of Serbia, and to finish our winning campaign there,” Vucic told reporters.
He said he is running the campaign “as an ordinary citizen.” He has his own car, but for visits to remote villages he also acquired a small truck and a camper, so he would not have to look for a place to spend the night once he reaches the most distant villages.
Vucic used the same appearance on Pink Television to confirm the date of his own resignation as president, which Srpske vesti had already reported: September 27.
“I will address the people that evening, thank them for their support. I was president the longest,” Vucic said, adding:
“I could not have done that without the citizens. The only thing I can say is that I served faithfully.”
The list and the signatures
The ballot he leads is called “Aleksandar Vucic, United Serbia” and was registered as list number one, meaning it will hold the first position on the ballot paper. The list carries 250 candidates: after Vucic come SNS president Milos Vucevic and Ana Brnabic.
Sources differ on the number of signatures submitted for the list. The Masina portal reports 224,557 signatures submitted, while Tanjug writes of a list of 223,933 voters. Both sides agree, however, on one figure: the Republic Election Commission established 209,130 legally valid signatures.
Ninth time for Novi Sad
The announcement of a rally in Novi Sad is not a new topic. The 021 portal, in the headline of its article on this announcement, called it “at least the ninth time” that Vucic has spoken of a major rally in that city. A reader citing Istinomer lays out a detailed timeline of previous scheduling and cancellations, with specific dates, in a comment under that article: according to that timeline, the most recent date was set for September 4 and cancelled on September 2, with the explanation that Vucic wanted to avoid a clash with the counter-protests announced by students and citizens.
Vucic did not give a specific date for the Novi Sad rally in this appearance, nor for the remaining three cities.
Duel challenge and the Student List
In the same appearance, Vucic said he believes his challenge to a pre-election duel with the top name on the Student List would not be accepted, and announced that he would issue the challenge only once that list is published in full. He accused the Student List of holding its plenums behind closed doors, “so that citizens would not be able to recognize or understand anything,” and called them “semi-secret organizations, everything contrary to the basic principles and rules.”
The parliamentary election has been called for October 25, and the campaign runs for 45 days. Vucic has not yet announced the exact date of the first of the four rallies he outlined, and Novi Sad, according to Istinomer’s timeline, has so far been announced eight times without taking place.
