The dominant force in Serbian politics for over 14 years, Aleksandar Vucic, who conceded defeat in a snap parliamentary poll on Sunday, rose from the wreckage of strongman Slobodan Milosevic's cabinet to the centre of power using his brand of populist nationalism.

For supporters, the 56-year-old represented stability, development and patriotism in a country scarred by the bloody wars of the 1990s and ensuing international isolation.

But opponents saw him as an increasingly authoritarian figure, twisting between the Kremlin and Brussels and leading a government accused of endemic corruption.

Vucic conceded his party had lost after voters cast ballots in record numbers in Sunday's vote, defeated by a new political force that emerged from a years-long protest movement.

"Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we lost these elections," Vucic told supporters at his party headquarters in Belgrade.