Serbia has been classified as an electoral autocracy since 2014, when democracy broke down under President Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), according to the V-Dem Institute's 2025 Democracy Report. Serbia's autocratization episode began from a position of liberal democracy, making the deterioration particularly stark. Elections are no longer considered free and fair. In 2024, the deadly collapse of a roof at a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad triggered large-scale protests that continued throughout 2025, further exposing the depth of the political crisis.
Serbia ranks 112th out of 179 countries on V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index and 119th out of 179 on the Electoral Democracy Index. It appears on two of the report's global top-20 decline lists: countries with the sharpest deterioration in free and fair elections, and countries with the most significant relapses in the autonomy of electoral management bodies (EMBs) - a combination shared with Cambodia and Ivory Coast. Government intimidation of voters and electoral actors is also increasing in Serbia, placing it alongside countries such as Hong Kong, Togo, and Nicaragua on that indicator.
Regionally, Serbia is part of a broader autocratization trend in Eastern Europe, where 11 countries are now autocratizing - up from 8 the previous year - affecting 46% of the region and 32% of its population. Serbia is listed alongside Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine as autocratizing neighbors of the EU. Within this regional picture, 65% of Eastern Europeans live in electoral autocracies such as Hungary, Russia, and Serbia, while only 29% live in democracies of any kind.
Serbia ranks 112th out of 179 countries on V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index and 119th out of 179 on the Electoral Democracy Index. It appears on two of the report's global top-20 decline lists: countries with the sharpest deterioration in free and fair elections, and countries with the most significant relapses in the autonomy of electoral management bodies (EMBs) - a combination shared with Cambodia and Ivory Coast. Government intimidation of voters and electoral actors is also increasing in Serbia, placing it alongside countries such as Hong Kong, Togo, and Nicaragua on that indicator.
Serbia ranks 112th out of 179 countries on V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index and 119th out of 179 on the Electoral Democracy Index
Regionally, Serbia is part of a broader autocratization trend in Eastern Europe, where 11 countries are now autocratizing - up from 8 the previous year - affecting 46% of the region and 32% of its population. Serbia is listed alongside Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine as autocratizing neighbors of the EU. Within this regional picture, 65% of Eastern Europeans live in electoral autocracies such as Hungary, Russia, and Serbia, while only 29% live in democracies of any kind.
