Serbian president-elect Tomislav Nikolic handed in his resignation on May 24 as president of the Serbian Progressive Party explaining that he wanted "to be the president of all citizens."

Nikolic announced that the mandate to form the new government would be offered to the Serbian Progressive Party. "I will offer you the mandate, and you try to do something with it, and if you do not use it, I will place it in worse hands," Nikolic said at a session of the Serbian Progressive Party's steering commission.

Nikolic said that he had "happily" left deputy president Aleksandar Vucic in charge of running the party until its next congress. "It is only democratic and civilized and the only honest thing [to do] that I be the president of all citizens," said Nikolic.

Nikolic told members of the Serbian Progressive Party Main Committee to no longer expect him to make decisions, staffing solutions and the strategy, but that they could expect advice from him. Nikolic cried during his speech.