The Serbia students election win ends 14 years of rule by right-wing populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, after the Students’ List celebrated a historic victory. Supporters celebrated in Belgrade on October 25, after Vucic conceded defeat as the prime ministerial candidate of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Crowds entered a pro-government encampment near the parliament and dismantled tents that had occupied the area for months.
How the movement started
The movement began on November 1, 2024, when a concrete awning at the entrance to Novi Sad train station collapsed, killing 16 people. The tragedy at the newly renovated station sparked outcry and demands for a swift investigation.
Peaceful protests grew over months into some of the largest demonstrations recorded since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. From the start, university students led the protests, blockading faculties and organising nationwide rallies.
The movement is deliberately leaderless and built around collective decision-making. Just over a month before the second anniversary of the disaster, Vucic announced early elections. The students then assembled an electoral list drawn largely from academia and professional circles. All of its candidates stand outside any major political party.
Serbia students election win: how it happened
The movement built its campaign around opposing Vucic, setting aside issues that could divide its supporters. Political analyst Dusan Vucicevic told AFP that in order to win, the students needed the support of both groups of voters: those who are pro-European and those who are Eurosceptic.
Its campaign focused on corruption, the rule of law and attacks on press freedom.
Who will lead the new government
The movement has repeatedly called for an end to the cult of personality that has dominated the country’s political system for decades. It has not said who would be prime minister, leaving open who will lead the government.
Leading figures include Ilija Srdanovic, a cardiologist who headed the electoral list, and Radomir Saicic, a chemistry professor prominent in the campaign. Vucicevic stressed that Serbia’s prime minister does not have to be a member of parliament, so the movement has other people available whom it could bring into the government.
Policies and the balancing act ahead
The candidates will need to adapt quickly to deliver on their broad reform platform, with the fight against corruption at its centre. On foreign policy, the movement has offered fewer details.
It previously said it would maintain Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Serbia remains heavily dependent on cheap Russian gas, but it is also supported by large European Union loans. The students will likely inherit Vucic’s political balancing act between the two sides.
For now, the students’ focus will remain largely domestic, as they continue with their electoral strategy of uniting an anti-regime electorate and setting aside differences. Vucicevic said the movement’s proposed reforms would likely bring Serbia closer to the EU.
What happens to Vucic
Vucic served as a deputy prime minister from 2012, then as prime minister and finally as president. Vucicevic described him as “politically dead”. He resigned ahead of the elections to run as prime minister, while his SNS won over 100 seats in the country’s parliament.
Presidential elections are due soon, but Vucic is ineligible to run, and the SNS has no obvious candidate. The question of possible prosecutions remains, and it will depend on the students’ ability to restore the rule of law.
Why the result matters beyond Serbia
Protest movements rarely convert street power into election victory. Serbia’s students have done it without a single leader, using collective decisions and a campaign that united voters who disagree on much else. The first test will be practical: turning a protest network into a working government. The second will be political: holding together pro-European and Eurosceptic voters while tackling corruption and reforming state institutions.
Elections elsewhere have also produced sharp changes of direction this year. Feature Pakistan reported that Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won a fourth term in a dramatic comeback, while Feature Pakistan reported that Bulgaria heads to an election runoff on November 1.
What sparked Serbia’s student protests?
A concrete awning collapsed at Novi Sad train station on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people and sparking protests over corruption and accountability.
