Image source, Reuters

Image caption, People queue outside a polling station in Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city

By Nick Thorpe

Reporting from Belgrade

Early reports suggest Serbian voters have turned out in large numbers for its parliamentary election, as a student protest movement attempts to end the rule of the country's right-wing populist leader.

Preliminary reports suggest a record high turnout, with 46% having cast their vote by 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT), nearly a million more than the comparable figure for the previous election in December 2023.

The apparent high turnout is fuelling the hopes of opposition party Student List that they can oust Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), who have been in power since 2012.

The snap elections called by Vučić follow two years of student protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a train station canopy, which killed 16 and was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.

Anti-corruption movement Student List are…