Serbia's Student Movement Defeats Vučić in Parliamentary Election

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić conceded defeat to the student-led protest movement after parliamentary elections, saying on Sunday: "It is clear that we have lost these elections." A representative sample by CESID-IPSPS pollsters showed the Student List winning around 138 seats in the 250-seat parliament, against roughly 104 for Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), with the remaining seats going to ethnic minority parties. Turnout approached 70 percent — the highest since Yugoslavia's break-up in 1992. The movement was originally triggered by the collapse of a train-station canopy in Novi Sad in 2024 that killed 16 people, but grew into nearly two years of sustained protests against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism. Vučić had called the snap election in September after those prolonged demonstrations. Celebrations erupted in Belgrade's streets, with cars honking and students shouting "victory." The Student List's slate of 250 largely unknown candidates includes university professors, actors, and farmers, and is nominally led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, though who will serve as prime minister remains unresolved. The movement's domestic agenda centres on rooting out corruption and improving education, while analysts predict a purge of Vučić allies across the police, security services, and ministries.