Serbian student movement eyes power after election triumph

Serbia’s student-led movement targeted a clear parliament majority on Monday after widespread protests ended with a historic election triumph that forced right-wing populist leader Aleksandar Vucic to concede defeat.

Nationwide celebrations erupted after the victory in Sunday’s election, which was the culmination of two years of mounting pressure on Vucic after the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people.

The disaster has been widely blamed on corruption and triggered some of Serbia’s largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

On the streets of Belgrade, where cars still routinely honked in celebration on Monday afternoon, passersby told AFP they felt overjoyed at the result.

“Everything smells of freedom,” design student Katarina Malesevic told AFP, describing a sense of relief after Vucic’s defeat.

The outcome will be closely watched across Europe as the continent faces a wave of youth-led demonstrations.

But political analyst Dusan Vucicevic said the movement differed from other protests.

“This experiment in grassroots democracy ultimately succeeded in securing more than 50 percent of the vote, although it remains unclear whether a similar model could work in other countries,” Vucicevic told AFP.

According to independent electoral watchdog CeSID, the Students’ List secured 53 percent of the vote while Vucic’s populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) garnered almost 39 percent, based on 96 percent of the count.

The result would give them 140 MPs in the 250-seat assembly, with the SNS at 103. Minority parties will get the remaining seats.

“Students won and with them also a hope that Serbia can be a country of justice, freedom and dignity,” Radomir Saicic, a candidate for the List, told supporters at the movement’s election headquarters late Sunday.

A near-record turnout of almost 70 percent likely drove the political upset.

The figure surpassed the 1993 parliamentary election, when just over 61 percent voted.

Unforgettable moment

Shocking many observers, Vucic, who had resigned the presidency to run for prime minister and has grown increasingly authoritarian in recent years, conceded defeat less than two hours after polls closed.

The defeat triggered raucous scenes as supporters of the movement celebrated the downfall of a government they blamed for deep-rooted corruption.

Thousands poured into the streets of Belgrade and other cities to celebrate, with cars honking, crowds chanting, and fireworks lighting up the skyline.

Medical student Milutin Kandic, walking through central Belgrade on Monday morning, said he was certain that “no one from my generation will ever forget the moment he conceded defeat”.

Addressing supporters late Sunday, Vucic, who has maintained close ties with Russia throughout his tenure, blamed foreign powers for the result.

“I want people to know, this was the validation of a revolution carried out with the direct support of various European countries and the US deep state, the one that is also against President Trump,” he said.

For nearly two years, students have staged rallies and marched across the Balkan nation to reach voters directly and counter the media machine of Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party.

Their protests have drawn huge crowds. A final pre-election rally in Belgrade on Thursday attracted around 150,000 people, according to an independent protest monitor.

The students announced a celebration rally at a central Belgrade square to start at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT).

A broad platform

Most of the student list’s 250 candidates are experts from fields including academia and the arts with little political experience.

The movement has a broad platform, centred on a pledge to fight corruption.

It evolved from demands for a transparent investigation into the Novi Sad tragedy into calls for an early election.

The movement kept foreign policy issues, including Serbia’s relationship with the European Union and longtime ally Russia, in the background.

On Monday, the Kremlin said it hoped that Serbia’s new leaders “understand that cooperation with Russia is in Serbia’s interests, because it brings benefits to Serbia”.

“From the outset, they insisted as much as possible that Serbia must first and foremost address its domestic political issues — problems with the electoral process, the media environment, and the literal dismantling of every institution in Serbia, from the national to the local level,” Vucicevic said.

The students are expected to prioritise institutional reform and the rule of law, which he added would bring the country closer to EU membership.

After pushing back against the protests for almost two years, Vucic called the vote last month under mounting pressure, citing “major turbulence on the domestic political scene”.