After 14 Years, Serbia’s Student Movement Topples Vučić’s Party

Serbia’s longtime leader, President Aleksandar Vucic, conceded defeat Sunday to a student-led opposition movement in an election that sent shock waves across Europe and the Western Balkans.

“We do not have the final results yet, and many people will be surprised. Based on a stratified sample, it is clear that we have lost these elections. The student-led protest list has won,” Vucic said in a televised address to the nation Sunday night.

The Student List’s victory ends 14 years of rule by Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party. Many are describing the result as the most significant political upheaval in the Balkans since Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic was toppled in 2000. 

The party’s policies remain largely undefined, however, prompting concern among some observers about the direction Serbia will take.

Ana Brnabic, vice president of the main Board of the Serbian Progressive Party, told News Media that, “The election victory of the Student List recalls similar electoral triumphs in other countries. The Student List represents a classical anti-establishment movement: it had neither a program nor a coherent political ideology. In an essentially anarchic fashion, it opposed everything, claiming to fight for justice and against corruption.”

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She added, “After 14 years of Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) rule, people may have wanted change. That is understandable and logical. But the grim consequences of this movement in power will soon become apparent.”

Turnout climbed to 69 %, the highest level this century, with more than 4.4 million people voting, according to Rasa Nedeljkov, head of the CRTA Election Observation Mission.

“This is by all means a historic victory and indeed a surprise to many. While it was clear from the beginning that the students will have an impressive result, very few expected a landslide,” Helena Ivanov, associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told News Media.

The Election Observation Mission said the Student List secured 52.45 % of the vote and is projected to win 138 of the National Assembly’s 250 seats. That would give the group an outright majority and allow it to form a government without coalition partners.

Vucic received 39.2 % of the vote and is projected to take 103 seats.

Celebrations spread through Belgrade and other parts of Serbia as the scale of the Student List’s victory became clear, surpassing the expectations of many experts and observers.

As polling stations closed, many people voiced concern that tensions could spiral into violence. Nearly two hours later, Vucic addressed the nation, acknowledged his defeat and pledged a peaceful transfer of power.

“The path to an electoral victory with such a decisive margin will undoubtedly earn its own chapter in the handbooks on how to topple an autocrat. Two years of unprecedented grassroots mobilization, creative organization and impeccable campaigning kept the student list two steps ahead of the regime. Vučić was left playing catch-up, and all his attempts to co-opt, demoralize and fragment the movement failed,” Sinisa Vukovic, director of the Global Policy Program at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told News Media.

The CRTA Election Observation Mission said the campaign was marred by the misuse of state resources, pressure on candidates and voters, efforts to bring the media under complete government control, and attacks against independent election monitors.

Despite the tensions, tens of thousands of Serbians volunteered to staff and monitor polling stations nationwide, and voting was largely peaceful.

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Student-led protests continued for two years after 16 people died when a railway station canopy collapsed in the town of Novi Sad in November 2024. Demonstrators demanded justice for the victims and accountability for those responsible for the disaster.

The momentum of nearly two years of street demonstrations culminated in a nationwide movement ready for change. The political novices were able to rally the nation behind a simple message against corruption and state capture.

Serbs across the country embraced the Student List, who are viewed as fresh faces in politics and are not tied to Serbia’s traditional political opposition, which is perceived as ineffective and corrupt by a lot of the voters.

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Milos Jevtic, a 48-year-old professor with the Faculty of Organizational Sciences at the University of Belgrade, was among the many Student List candidates who won a seat in parliament.

Jevtic told News Media that their victory came from the values that the students have stood for from the very beginning: expertise, professionalism, responsibility, solidarity and unity.

“What is particularly important is that the students have never compromised on these values and principles. Of course, widespread public dissatisfaction also played a major role, along with a lack of trust in both the current regime and the opposition parties,” Jevtic explained.

Jevtic said he believes the priorities for the new Student List-run government should be economic stability, fighting corruption, establishing the rule of law and strengthening institutions, much of what carried the student-led protests since 2024.

“The ultimate goal is to build a system in which institutions function in the interests of all citizens,” Jevtic said.

On foreign policy, there is an expectation that there will be a certain degree of continuity with the Vucic administration in international relations, including maintaining good relations with neighboring European countries and all major international partners.

But Brnabic warned that “Serbia has lost meaningful political pluralism. After 35 years of a multiparty system, the country is effectively left with one established political party, SNS, while the rest of the political scene is dominated by largely unknown movements without a clear ideology. This is catastrophic for any parliamentary democracy.”

She added, “Secondly, nobody in Serbia knows where the country is heading. Are we firmly pro-EU? Will we maintain our ties with Russia? What about China? Will we continue to enhance our relations with the United States — which was a priority of Aleksandar Vucic? Will economic policy be more left-liberal or conservative? Are we heading towards a woke liberal society, or will we preserve our traditional Orthodox Christian values? There are no clear answers to any of these questions.”

She concluded by noting, “We have also called for Parliament and all state institutions to be constituted as soon as possible, so that the country has functioning institutions on which people can rely. We will be a strong but constructive opposition. We call on the Student List’s representatives to end the intimidation and assume the responsibility entrusted to them by the voters.”