Serbia votes as strongman Vučić faces grassroots challenge to 12-year rule – Europe live

The Student List movement is taking on authoritarian leader following nearly two years of protests against government and institutional corruption

• What is at stake in Serbia’s election?

Not necessarily that much in substance, but definitely a change in optics.

Unlike most European leaders – with the exception of ousted Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and his loyal Slovak ally Robert Fico – Vučić has maintained closed ties with Russia, despite the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Last year, he and Fico even controversially joined the Russian Victory Parade in Moscow.

“It’s like in Chekhov’s plays: if there’s a rifle hanging on the wall in the first act, that rifle will fire in the third act.”