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Serbian Students' List Wins Election Ousting Vucic
· Confirmed
In Short: In a historic upset, the Student List, a political movement born from student protests, won parliamentary elections in Serbia, ousting President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
Vucic conceded defeat in a press conference, acknowledging preliminary results showing the Student List leading with around 135-140 seats compared to 105 for the SNS.
The Student List, which emerged from the student-led protest movement following the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November 2024, won 51.5% of the vote, while Vucic's United Serbia won 40.2%, according to the election watchdog CRTA.
The movement's success was attributed to its strategy of remaining independent from domestic political parties and international superpowers such as Russia, China, the EU, and the US.
Vucic accused unnamed European countries and Serbia's independent media of interference, suggesting that the victory was a result of external influence.
Student List candidate Radomir Saicic said, 'Tonight, the citizens of Serbia have shown that no obstacle is greater than their will, no fear is stronger than their courage, and no force can forever overpower a people determined to take their destiny into their own hands.'
The Student List's victory marks the end of a 14-year rule by the Serbian Progressive Party and represents a significant shift in Serbian politics.
The movement's success was also welcomed by several European leaders, including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who reaffirmed the European Union's support for democratic reforms and Serbia's European integration.
Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović expressed hope that the result would open a new chapter in bilateral relations, based on friendship, sincere dialogue, and a shared European future.
The Student List has already started negotiations to form the government, marking a new era in Serbian politics.
The election results reflect a broader dissatisfaction with corruption and mismanagement by local elites and international corporations, which have eroded the standard of living and plunged many into precarity.
The Student List's success demonstrates the power of grassroots mobilization and the potential for student-led movements to effect significant political change.
The election saw exceptionally high voter turnout, with the highest in years, at 69.34%, according to independent pollsters CeSID.
What this adds
The Student List's victory marks the end of a 14-year rule by the Serbian Progressive Party and represents a significant shift in Serbian politics.
The election results reflect a broader dissatisfaction with corruption and mismanagement by local elites and international corporations, which have eroded the standard of living and plunged many into precarity.
Background
In a historic upset, the Student List, a political movement born from student protests, won parliamentary elections in Serbia, ousting President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
In a surprise victory, Serbian students' list won parliamentary elections, ousting President Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party.
What's confirmed
- “I would like to inform you that, based on the stratified sample, it is clear that we have lost this election,” said Aleksandar Vucic, former president and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party’s “United Serbia” electoral list.
- Speaking at around 9:30 pm on Sunday, Vucic announced preliminary results suggesting that the opposition Student List was leading in Serbia’s closely watched snap parliamentary elections, with around 135-140 seats compared to 105 for the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
- Serbian election watchdog CRTA said that according to preliminary results, Student List won 51.5 per cent and Vucic’s United Serbia won 40.2 per cent.
- “This was a verification of a revolution that they carried out directly with support of various European countries, and the US’s deep state, the one that is against President Trump,” Vucic said in a press conference.
- The Guardian reported that the outgoing Serbian leader had pushed officials in Belgrade to help advance a plan promoted by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, to build a $500 million hotel complex in Belgrade.
- He described the outcome as “a victory for the belief that Serbia can and must be different.” Serbia’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday saw exceptionally high voter turnout as the ruling SNS faced its greatest electoral challenge in 14 years from Student List, which emerged from the student-led protest movement following the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November 2024.
- The Student List has already started negotiations to form the government.
- Although the student protests were triggered by one particular incident – the death of 16 people in a train canopy collapse at a newly renovated station in 2024 – their anger had much deeper roots.
- Candidates from the Student List, who are not students themselves but largely first-time politicians selected by student-led popular assemblies, won a majority of seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, marking a seismic shift in Serbian politics.
- Mr Vucic, a populist and nationalist, has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president since 2014.
- A young man holds a Serbian flag as people gather for the final "Student List – Students Win" rally ahead of a parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, Oct.
- The students were on course to win 52.9% of the vote, according to a later projection by independent pollsters CeSID, with the highest turnout in years, at 69.34%, BBC said.
What's still developing
- The protests the students started were not the first against Vucic and his government.
- By March 2025, suffering more and more attacks, the students called for people to establish citizens’ assemblies akin to the student plenaries, in order to aid them in seeking justice for the 16 killed in Novi Sad.
- The students made it clear they rejected being incorporated into a type of leadership-based politics that was failing all across Europe.
- But Serbian students did not just rely on their opponent’s overconfidence.
- A nationwide student movement shook the foundations of a deeply entrenched government and on Sunday, it dealt it an unprecedented electoral blow – something opposition parties had failed to do for more than a decade.
- He resigned last month and led his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) with the goal of returning to the post of prime minister, which he left in 2017.
- "Vucic's rhetoric suggests that he will likely join Orban and other populist European politicians who enjoy Trump's support but will now find themselves in opposition to what they often label 'globalist-led structures,'" he said.
- In a brief statement to the nation, outgoing Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat and declared that the Student List has won the majority in parliament.
- In each episode, two political heavyweights from across the EU face off to propose a diversity of opinions and spark conversations around the most important issues of EU affairs and the wider European political life.
- LED screens in the corridors announced plenaries and alternative lectures for students.
- The students were seen as naive, irrelevant, disaffected youth.
- Associating with them would have been damaging to the movement.