Student-backed movement challenges Vucic party in Serbia election

Serbia’s student-led protest movement faces a test at the ballot box on Sunday, challenging Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling party in a snap parliamentary election shaped by anger over a train station collapse that killed 16 people.

The October 25 vote pits Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, against Student List–Students Win, a movement that grew from demands for accountability after a concrete canopy fell at Novi Sad station on November 1, 2024. According to the BBC, weekly student protests began on university campuses and city streets before becoming a nationwide movement that drew in people from across Serbian society.

The BBC describes the election as a threat to Vucic’s 12 years in power, while Al Jazeera says the SNS has governed since 2012 and is seeking to extend a 14-year grip on power. The outlets differ on Vucic’s current status: the BBC identifies him as president and says he cannot seek a third term; Al Jazeera reports that he resigned from the presidency in September. Both say he is leading the SNS campaign with the aim of becoming prime minister, a post he left in 2017.

The student movement has no formal leader and has kept its distance from mainstream opposition parties. Its candidates include teachers, academics, doctors, farmers and actors. Its lead candidate, Novi Sad cardiology professor Ilija Srdanovic, joined students marching toward Belgrade. “The energy is unstoppable,” he said during the march, according to the BBC.

The movement’s programme calls for a police unit to arrest people responsible for corruption, the removal of internal-affairs officials who broke rules in crackdowns on protesters or have links to organised crime, and an end to political control of public broadcasting, the BBC reported. It also seeks to stop party loyalists from being appointed to lead public enterprises. Some opposition parties have stood aside to support its list. The SNS denies corruption and attempts to influence the media.

“The political dynamic has changed from the ground up,” Jelena Vasiljevic of the University of Belgrade’s Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory told Al Jazeera. She said turnout would be decisive because the student list must attract not only opposition voters but also people who usually do not vote.

Questions about the vote’s fairness have accompanied the campaign. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has described a “tense and divisive electoral climate” and a “referendum-like atmosphere,” the BBC reported. Serbian election officials say voting is free and secret, but independent watchdog CRTA has warned of threats, physical violence and surveillance of opposition activists. It also alleged that public institutions were involved in “electoral engineering” and said government representatives received almost three-quarters of television coverage.

Foreign policy remains less defined. Al Jazeera reported that the student movement has avoided detailed positions on divisive issues including Kosovo, European Union membership and Russia. Igor Bandovic of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy told the outlet that its candidates have proposed reviewing EU-backed agreements on Kosovo and raised the possibility of a referendum on EU membership within six months of taking office. The BBC reported that Vucic has continued to support Serbia’s EU candidacy while refusing to sanction Russia over its war in Ukraine.

Voters will choose all 250 parliamentary seats through nationwide party lists. Lists generally need at least 3% of the vote to enter parliament, though recognised minority lists are exempt. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time; Al Jazeera says preliminary results are expected about two hours later.