Serbia’s student-led opposition movement has won snap parliamentary elections, ending the Serbian Progressive Party’s rule since 2012. With 97% of polling stations counted, the Student List had received 2.25 million votes, or 52.7%, against 1.67 million votes and 39.2% for the SNS, according to preliminary figures. Aleksandar Vučić, who led the governing party after serving two presidential terms and seeking a return as prime minister, conceded defeat. Crowds celebrated in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities after the vote, held amid high tensions and long queues at polling stations, including abroad.
The movement grew out of protests following the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people and was blamed on corruption and negligence. Rather than center its campaign on established politicians, it fielded a broad slate of doctors, actors, academics and sports figures, appealing to anti-government voters nationwide. Its anti-corruption programme promises to remove officials who violated rules in suppressing protests, prevent party loyalists from running public enterprises and reduce political control of public broadcasting. Its leaders describe the result as a mandate to end authoritarian rule; a University of Belgrade political scientist called it a sweeping transformation of Serbia’s political landscape. Attention now turns to who will become prime minister. The outcome also raises questions about Serbia’s foreign relations: Vučić supported EU membership while maintaining ties with Russia, and EU enlargement officials have signalled readiness to work with the new leadership.
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