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Serbian Students, Victorious and Leaderless, Go After the Media
· Confirmed
In Short: Serbian students' victory in Sunday's election ended Aleksandar Vučić's 12-year rule, marking a shift in the country's political landscape.
On Sunday, Serbian voters elected the opposition Student List, a youth-backed movement, in a landslide victory that ended Aleksandar Vučić's 12-year rule as the country's leader.
The election, which saw 6.4 million voters choose from 18 parties, was largely seen as a referendum between Vučić's right-wing Serbian Progressive Party and the Students' List.
Political scientist Dusan Vucicevic from Belgrade University told AFP that the Students' List could win more than 40 percent of the vote, a significant increase from any opposition list since the Serbian Progressive Party came to power.
The Students' List, a leaderless movement, has gained momentum since the 2024 collapse of a canopy at the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people and sparked widespread protests.
University professor Jugoslav Gasic, one of 250 candidates on the Student List, told the crowd, “We are putting an end to 14 years of humiliation, chaos and betrayal, and to decades of putting personal and party interests above yours.”
The election campaign was marked by concerns over safety and fairness, with detentions, government control over the media, and reports of surveillance and cyberattacks against activists.
Voters queued at polling places around the country early Sunday, with record turnout in Serbia's recent history.
Ilija Srdanovic, a physician and first of 250 candidates for the youth movement, said, “this evening, when we present our results, we will give recommendations what to do next.”
Magda Anastasijevic, the Eastern Europe analyst for the conflict monitor ACLED, warned that electoral violence could escalate, particularly if the results are disputed.
The victory of the Students' List is expected to resonate beyond Serbia, as countries across Europe face youth and student protests.
The European Union is closely watching the conduct of Sunday’s vote in a candidate nation for the bloc’s membership.
Srdan Majstorović, chairman of the governing board of the European Policy Center (CEP), a think tank, said, “The key lesson that should be drawn from the case of Serbia is that the EU can very easily lose credibility and integrity if it ignores the causes of democratic backsliding in a country.”
What this adds
The election marks a significant shift in Serbia's political landscape, with the Students' List's victory signaling a potential reset in the country's relationship with the EU.
What's confirmed
- Though Serbia's 6.4 million voters get to choose from 18 parties hoping to enter the 250-member Parliament, the election has taken shape as a referendum between Vucic's right-wing Serbian Progressive Party and the youth-backed Students' List.
- While Vucic has routinely outplayed Serbia's fractured opposition in the past, the leaderless youth movement has proved to be a tough opponent that rattled his firm grip on power in Serbia like no one else could in the past 14 years since his party took office.
- "I hope that this day will pass in a democratic atmosphere and in peace and that we will legitimately choose a new government in Serbia," Srdanovic said after voting in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad.
- “I came to support the Student List because young people finally gave me hope that it is possible to live in a normal country,” Marija Nedeljkovic-Pravdić, 47, said as she arrived for the students’ rally.
- “Really, for the first time in my life, I believe that it is possible.” Sunday’s vote comes after nearly two years of student-led protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people.
- “I’ve been following this fight since the very beginning,” 35-year-old student rally attender Igor said.
- The anti-corruption movement, led by university students, snowballed from demands for a transparent investigation into the tragedy into calls for an early election.
- Voters queued at polling places around the country early Sunday, something Ilija Srdanovic, a physician who is the first of 250 candidates for the youth movement, said heralded "record turnout in Serbia's recent history."
- "this evening, when we present our results, we will give recommendations what to do next."
- Magda Anastasijevic, the Eastern Europe analyst for the conflict monitor ACLED, said that electoral violence has been on the rise in Serbia recently, and could escalate, "particularly if the results are disputed."
What's still developing
- "It is supported by documented findings from independent Serbian organisations working in different fields."
- Waving "Students are winning" flags, chanting, and blowing whistles, students marched through Belgrade before converging on Slavija Square, the site of some of their biggest protests.
- Days before the vote, Serbian civil society groups warned that conditions for "free and fair elections" were lacking.
- Vucic has dominated Serbian politics for over a decade, serving as either prime minister or president.
- “Aleksandar Vučić acted like the go-to person for everything while ignoring all the laws in the country, including the constitution,” Jugoslav Gašić, an assistant professor in medicine at several universities and soon-to-be MP, said in an interview.
- For years, anytime non-governmental organizations, journalists or activists argued that Brussels should try to include other voices in the EU negotiation process, they were told “that there was no alternative to the regime in Serbia,” Majstorović continued.
- “The Commission must first restore its long-lost credibility after years of propping up Vučić,” said Djordje Bojović, a foreign policy advisor for Greens in the European Parliament.
- “After 30 years, I am really excited.” Another voter, Jovan Mitrovic, said he hopes that “everything goes peacefully and that everything finishes nicely,” and that “the dawn finally rises in this country after many years.” Recent elections have been marred by irregularities, and the European Union is watching closely the conduct of Sunday’s vote in a candidate nation for the bloc’s membership.
- “Let us never forget how they tried to bring down our state. Let us always protect and defend it,” said the 56-year-old, who resigned to run for prime minister.