Serbia’s Student Movement Challenges Vučić

Nearly two years after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, a student-led movement in Serbia is taking its demand for justice into electoral politics. The article presents the elections as a test of whether the movement can translate its public campaign into influence at the ballot box. It also frames the vote as potentially pivotal for Serbia’s political future, including the country’s direction in relation to the European Union and Russia. The supplied article text does not identify specific candidates, parties, election results, or details of the movement’s campaign, so its focus is on the stakes rather than the outcome.

Serbia’s parliamentary election presents the most serious challenge to Aleksandar Vučić’s rule since his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) entered government in 2012. The opposition Student List grew out of nearly two years of anti-corruption protests, sparked by the deaths of 16 people when a canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station. Rather than nominate student politicians, university assemblies selected 250 candidates from professional fields including academia, sport, economics and engineering. Cardiologist and Novi Sad University professor Ilija Srdanović tops the list, but he is not its leader and would not necessarily become prime minister if it won. The movement describes its aims in terms of restoring civil liberties and competent government, while supporters say its candidates are qualified despite lacking political experience. The election is expected to be extremely close, although reliable polling is scarce. Vučić retains substantial support, with supporters pointing to economic growth and infrastructure improvements. He has accused the student movement of foreign backing and of seeking to undermine the state. The Student List, in turn, says the SNS dominates state institutions and media. International election observers reported an overwhelming advantage for the ruling party in 2023, citing media bias and misuse of public resources. The BBC says SNS figures did not respond to its request for an interview. The station collapse remains a significant vulnerability for Vučić because the renovation was part of his high-profile Belgrade–Budapest rail project. Protesters accused the authorities of corruption, and an analyst says the disaster was harder for Vučić to deflect by blaming others than previous controversies. The article also describes a pro-SNS camp in central Belgrade whose occupants have repeatedly attacked journalists and restricted public access. In foreign policy, Vučić has balanced Serbia’s EU membership talks with close relations with Russia and China. He warns that a Student List victory could jeopardize those ties, particularly over possible sanctions on Russia. The campaign’s final rallies underscored the choice facing voters: Vučić’s model of a dominant individual leader or the Student List’s collective approach.

Serbian students are taking a protest movement that began after a deadly infrastructure disaster into parliamentary elections, presenting a candidate list intended to challenge the long rule of Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party. The movement grew after a concrete canopy collapsed at the recently renovated railway station in Novi Sad, killing 16 people. Students and other demonstrators accused Vucic’s government of endemic corruption and argued that the disaster undermined the leader’s carefully cultivated image as a modernizer who could guide Serbia into the future. The Student List’s candidates include academics, economists, athletes and engineers. Organizers say they deliberately chose people without political backgrounds and describe the effort as a broader movement of free-thinking Serbians, not simply a student campaign. Mihail Dudas, a former Olympic decathlete representing Serbia, is among the candidates. Student activist Vuk Stojic says the list offers something new and different. Tens of thousands gathered at a final pre-election rally in Belgrade, while a rally in Novi Sad drew around 150,000 people, according to the report. The protests began two years ago and persisted despite the government’s apparent expectation that they would fade. ACLED analyst Magda Anastasijevic says Vucic has previously been able to deflect blame, but that strategy did not work in the case of the station disaster. Vucic resigned as president the previous month because he could not serve a third term, and is seeking to remain in power as prime minister. He has dismissed accusations of authoritarian tendencies and told supporters his party would win a major victory. International election monitors have previously raised concerns that his party dominates the media and uses state resources for its benefit. Although Vucic remains defiant, the Student List’s challenge has made the outcome of Serbia’s election appear uncertain for the first time in 14 years.