Serbia has woken to a new political era after the student-backed Student List swept to a landslide parliamentary victory on October 25, ending 14 years of rule by Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party — but the celebrations in Belgrade have quickly given way to questions about how the movement will govern.
With almost 99 per cent of votes counted, the Student List secured 52.7 per cent of the vote against 39.2 per cent for Vučić’s SNS-led alliance, according to the State Election Commission, giving the students 139 seats in the 250-seat National Assembly and the SNS alliance 97. Vučić conceded defeat on election night at SNS headquarters, telling supporters: “It is now clear that we have lost and the Students’ List has won.”
From protest to power
The movement was born from two years of peaceful anti-government protests that followed the collapse of the renovated railway station canopy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people and fuelled anger over corruption and accountability. Students shut nearly every university in the country, demanded the station’s reconstruction documents and early elections, and chose their 250 candidates through student assemblies.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Belgrade and other cities after the concession. “I thought it was unbelievable, I still do not believe it. It was too long, and (Vučić) was pressuring us for a long, long time,” university administrator Marijana Radovanovic Pajovic told Reuters. Vučić, who had resigned the presidency on September 27 to run for prime minister and had received Russian President Vladimir Putin’s endorsement, blamed independent media, alleged interference by unnamed European countries and an “American deep state” for the defeat.
What comes next
The Student List had not named a prime minister as of Tuesday, and its 11-point programme promises equal law for everyone but leaves major questions open, including Serbia’s path toward the European Union and the fate of its close ties with Russia. European leaders congratulated the movement and voiced support for Serbia’s European future, while analysts note the result may inspire student movements elsewhere in Europe. The outgoing administration remains in a caretaker role until the new government is formed, and still controls the police — a fact thrown into sharp relief by Wednesday’s deadly attack outside the Israeli embassy in Belgrade.
