Serbia's longtime leader, strongman Aleksandar Vucic , conceded defeat to a student-led movement in the country's parliamentary elections on Sunday in what represents a seismic political shift.

High turnout and growing tension marked a hotly contested parliamentary election that was a showdown between the Balkan country's longtime leader and a diverse movement of university students who have led protests against him for almost two years.

The result brings an end to more than a decade of rule by Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

Pre-election polls had suggested a tight race between the SNS and the newly formed, youth-backed party Students' List, which emerged from a mass student protest movement.

Vucic: 'It is clear that we lost these elections'

"Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections," Vucic said as he addressed supporters at SNS headquarters in Belgrade.

In his concession speech, Vucic said projections had the youth-backed Students’ List taking between 135…