Vučić, Brnabić and Nikolić May Have to Leave Their State Villas in Dedinje: the Fall From Power Is Measured in Square Metres

After the Serbian Progressive Party's (SNS) election defeat, three of the most powerful figures of the outgoing regime - Aleksandar Vučić, Ana Brnabić and Tomislav Nikolić - could soon lose their right to luxury state villas in Belgrade's Dedinje neighbourhood. According to Serbian media, sources in the Serbian government say the former officials will have to leave the state properties as soon as the new head of state and the new government take office.

The context is clear: in the parliamentary election, the Student List "Students Are Winning" took 52.73 percent of the vote and Vučić's "United Serbia" list 39.15 percent. Vučić conceded and shifted the blame onto the media and the "American deep state". People celebrated in the streets late into the night.

"They will have to move out the moment the new president of the state and the new government arrive. They may be able to stay somewhat longer in the state villas, but only if the security services assess that their safety is at risk," a government source said. In that case they would be moved to another protected location and would return to their own houses and flats once the danger had passed.

Jovanka Broz's villa

Ana Brnabić, former prime minister and speaker of the National Assembly, has lived since November 2020 with her partner Milica Đurđić in the so-called Jovanka's villa on Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević Boulevard. It's a property of about 750 square metres where Jovanka Broz, Tito's widow, once lived. Brnabić moved in while she was prime minister and stayed on after she became speaker of parliament in March 2024.

To make that possible, the government amended the decree in July 2024: the villa stopped being the prime minister's residence and became an official building for the Speaker of the Assembly. Before that change, the rules required the occupant to move out no later than six months after the end of their term. The rule wasn't broken - it was rewritten.

Vučić officially used the "Bokeljka" villa on Tolstojeva Street, which covers about 1,700 square metres. According to Serbian media, he didn't live there permanently: the villa was used for state meetings, receiving foreign delegations and protocol events.

Nine years after his term, still in a state villa

The most interesting case is Tomislav Nikolić's. He has lived with his wife Dragica since August 2012 in a state villa at Užička 23. His presidential term ended back in 2017, but he never returned to the family house in Bajčetina. In November 2018 the government changed the villa's designation and assigned it to the president of the National Council for Coordinating Cooperation with Russia and China. The head of that council is - who else - Nikolić.

The change of power could also touch other valuable state properties in Dedinje. The MPs' Club on Tolstojeva Street was leased through the state company DIPOS by businessman Aleksandar Kajmaković, known as Aca Bosanac, whom the media link to SNS. "Whether he stays on as tenant of the MPs' Club depends on the new government's decision," the source says. Opposition politicians asked prosecutors back in August to investigate DIPOS's management of state property from 2012 to the present.

The pattern is familiar across the Balkans: when the rules on state property are changed for one person, that's not administration, it's privilege. It's not yet known whether the new government will review the decisions made so far. Will it roll back the decrees - or just change the tenants?