Victory for student list | Serbia faces a change of power after parliamentary elections

Many people in Serbia celebrated after Vučić admitted defeat in the parliamentary election. Photo: Armin Durgut/AP/dpa Belgrade.  The new opposition student list surprisingly won the early parliamentary elections in Serbia. Long-time ruler Aleksandar Vučić admitted defeat. This means that the country is facing a change of power: Vučić had almost single-handedly determined Serbian politics in various roles since 2012, relying on Russia and China, and the country moved away from Europe. Who will now become head of government is still unclear, despite the brilliant election victory of the grassroots democratic student list (SL).

The vote was widely seen as a referendum on the country's leadership under Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The official election results were pending that night. According to a forecast by the election research group Cesid, the opposition movement won an absolute majority with a good 52 percent of the votes, while Vucic's party got a good 39 percent of the votes. The voter turnout reached a record level of almost 70 percent. 

When the results were announced, seemingly endless cheers erupted in the streets and squares across the country. In the capital Belgrade, motorcades raced through the city honking and fireworks lit up the night sky. Tens of thousands of people celebrated wildly in the central Slavija Square. 

With their slogan “Serbia or the Mafia,” the student list hit a nerve. In the 14 years of his rule, Vučić turned the country into an autocracy. Its propaganda media spread hate and malice, its "election machine" put pressure on citizens who depend on state and municipal jobs, and gangs of thugs close to the party intimidated critics. But the majority of Serbs finally got fed up with the corruption and favoritism of the SNS - and showed Vučić the red card. 

The list leader of the student movement, Ilija Srdanovic (56), said on election night that he was proud of his fellow citizens who had hurled a clear "no" at the "tyrant" Vučić. He was convinced: "We are moving towards a more civilized and better Serbia."

What is remarkable is that there are almost no students on the student list. She has set up a movement that does without leadership committees and makes its decisions in grassroots democratic assemblies. The list consists primarily of university teachers, doctors and artists. Their brief eleven-point program promises the restoration of the rule of law and democracy as well as the prosecution of corruption and crime.

The student movement emerged from protests following the collapse of the train station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad in November 2024, which killed 16 people. Critics attributed the disaster to corruption and sloppiness on the part of the Vučić government. The subsequent student protests mobilized broad sections of the Serbian population and awakened a desire for change.

This hope could now be fulfilled. According to Cesid, the student list won 139 of the 250 parliamentary seats, while Vucic's SNS had to go into opposition with 104 seats. There are also seven mandates for small parties from ethnic minorities.

Although Srdanovic (56), a respected cardiologist from Novi Sad, headed the student list, he is not automatically considered a candidate for prime minister following the SL's election victory. The movement has not yet committed itself to personnel issues regarding a future government.

Vučić, in turn, resigned from his position as president at the end of September in order to become head of government if his party won the election. His presidential mandate would have expired in May next year, and after two terms in office he can no longer run for the position. But the 56-year-old has made a mistake with his tactical moves - the only thing left for him is the thankless job of being the opposition leader.  dpa/nd

This article cost you nothing. Us: research, production and technology. We saved on office rent as well as on printing and distribution. And we gave up salary. Nevertheless, the calculation doesn't work without you. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year. You pay what you can, in return we keep writing.

No paywall, no small print, just one goal: that nd stays.