Fourteen years of Aleksandar Vučić's dominance over Serbia have ended at the ballot box, and the victors are a movement that has never tried to govern and has chosen not to crown a single face. Born from the grief over sixteen lives lost when a railway station canopy fell in Novi Sad, the Student List now carries two years of street protest into the harder work of building institutions from the ground up. Whether a leaderless, collectively minded force can reshape a state its opponents staffed for themselves is the quiet question that will decide what this victory becomes.
Serbia's leaderless Student List prepares for government talks after historic defeat of Vučić
The collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people, sparking the two years of protests that preceded the election.
Twenty-four hours ago that all seemed like a fantasy.
Mark
Why does this result matter beyond Serbia?
Mimi
It ends 14 years of one man's dominance, and it came out of protests over the Novi Sad canopy collapse that killed 16 people. A street movement turned into a majority.
Mark
And the majority is large: 141 of 250 seats.
Luke
Those figures are projections from one organisation, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, based on ballot samples. The official result is still to come.
Mark
The movement has no leader. How does that work in government?
Mimi
Nobody knows yet. Names like Srdanović, Šoškić and Saičić are prominent, but no prime minister has been named.
Luke
Right, and prominent isn't the same as appointed. Burazer says even choosing candidates took months, which is a warning about speed.
Mark
What about the institutions?
Mimi
Civil servants loyal to the old regime remain in place, much like the challenge Hungary's Tisza faced after Orbán.
Luke
The platform promises are plans, not actions. An independent police unit and contract scrutiny are pledges, and we haven't seen how they'd be built.
Mark
What's the clock?
Mimi
Parliament within 30 days of the official result, a government within 90 more, and a presidential vote before 27 December.
Il Polso
- The Student List swept 141 of 250 seats with 53 percent of the vote, toppling a 14-year rule that had seemed immovable.
- With no declared prime minister and no cabinet named, the movement's decision-making is slow and its next steps are still forming in public view.
- Civil servants loyal to the old regime remain in place across ministries, media, the judiciary and state companies, making every reform a contest.
- Parliament must convene within 30 days and a government must follow within 90 more, while a presidential election must be held before 27 December.
- Foreign capitals from Moscow to Berlin are already circling, each hoping to shape a government that has not yet taken its shape.
Fourteen years of Aleksandar Vučić's dominance over Serbia have ended at the ballot box, and the victors are a movement that has never tried to govern and has chosen not to crown a single face. Born from the grief over sixteen lives lost when a railway station canopy fell in Novi Sad, the Student List now carries two years of street protest into the harder work of building institutions from the ground up. Whether a leaderless, collectively minded force can reshape a state its opponents staffed for themselves is the quiet question that will decide what this victory becomes.
On Monday, supporters of Serbia's Student List poured into the streets after a weekend election that ended fourteen years of rule by Aleksandar Vučić. Vučić conceded late on Sunday, closing a long chapter of domination that had followed two years of anti-government protest. Those protests began when a canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station and killed sixteen people, and the grief that followed never fully left the public square.
The results, projected from 100 percent of sampled ballots, gave the Student List 53 percent and 141 of the 250 seats. Vučić's Serbian Progressive party took 39 percent and 103 seats. Yet the movement has never governed, and it has deliberately refused to name a single leader. It has not said who will become prime minister or who will sit in cabinet. Its candidates were academics, actors, farmers and students, and figures like the cardiologist Ilija Srdanović and former central bank governor Dejan Šoškić have stepped forward. Nikola Burazer, a policy analyst in Belgrade, observed that the collective process has been slow, and that the candidate selection alone took months.
The harder test lies in the state itself. Public institutions are staffed by civil servants loyal to the outgoing regime, and Vučić's party had extended its grip over the media, the courts and other bodies. Hungary's new government faced a similar problem after ending Viktor Orbán's long rule, and Serbia's path will be no easier. The students' platform promises an independent police unit answerable to prosecutors, a purge of officers tied to organised crime, a ban on placing party loyalists in state companies, and fresh oversight of major infrastructure contracts. Ana Mirković, one of the candidates, described the victory as a historic debt to the people and their children, and named the country's social and psychological healing as the first task.
Foreign capitals have already responded. The Kremlin hopes the new leaders will value cooperation with Russia, while Berlin and Kyiv have spoken of Serbia's European future. The movement has kept those divisive questions in the background, insisting that domestic reform must come first. Under the constitution, parliament must meet within 30 days of the official result and a government must follow within 90 days after that. A presidential vote is also due before 27 December, since Vučić stepped aside to run for prime minister.
On Monday, supporters of Serbia's Student List took to the streets after a weekend election that ended 14 years of rule by Aleksandar Vučić. The movement has never governed, and it now has to work out how to form a government.
Vučić conceded late on Sunday. His defeat closes a period of domination over Serbian politics and follows two years of anti-government protests. Those protests began when a canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station and killed 16 people.
Projected results from the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy in Belgrade, with 100% of ballot samples counted, gave the Student List 53% of the vote and 141 seats in the 250-seat parliament. Vučić's Serbian Progressive party (SNS) took 39% and 103 seats. National minority lists hold the remaining seats.
How the winners will govern is unclear. The movement is built on collective decision-making and is deliberately leaderless and non-hierarchical, so it has not said who will be prime minister or sit in the cabinet. Its candidates included academics, actors and farmers as well as students. Prominent figures include Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist who headed the list; Dejan Šoškić, a former central bank governor; and Radomir Saičić, a Belgrade University chemistry professor who spoke for the List after the victory. Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Centre for Contemporary Politics in Belgrade, said the decision-making process needs to be sped up. Choosing candidates, he noted, took months. After the celebrations, he said, attention will turn to what the government will look like, something that seemed a fantasy 24 hours earlier.
The task is made harder by public institutions staffed with civil servants loyal to the outgoing regime. Hungary's Péter Magyar and his Tisza party faced the same problem after ending Viktor Orbán's 16 years in power this spring. Vučić's rule has been described as a textbook autocracy. His party extended its control over the media, the judiciary and other state bodies, and elections were marred by registration irregularities, media bias and voter bribes.
The students' platform centres on fighting corruption and restoring the rule of law. It proposes an independent police unit answerable to prosecutors rather than the interior ministry, and a purge of officers linked to organised crime. It would ban the appointment of party loyalists to state-owned companies. New independent bodies would scrutinise all major state infrastructure contracts. Ana Mirković, a university educationist, psychologist and candidate, said the movement sees the result not as power and privilege but as a historic debt to the people and their children. She named the country's "social and psychological detoxification" as the first priority. She also promised to open up the media, end pressure on public-sector workers and stop institutional violence. The aim, she said, is to rebuild society from the ground up, and to ensure state capture can never happen again.
The List deliberately kept divisive foreign policy questions, including relations with the EU and Russia, in the background. The analyst Dušan Vučićević said the movement insisted the country must first address domestic issues, namely dismantling institutions from the national to the local level. The Kremlin said it hoped the new leaders understand that cooperation with Russia is in Serbia's interests. Vučić, who kept close ties with Russia, blamed his defeat on the direct support of European countries and the US "deep state". Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, called the result a new chapter for Serbia. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would actively support Serbia's European path.
Vučićević noted that the win could inspire student movements elsewhere in Europe demanding better education standards. But he told Agence France-Presse it was unclear whether this model of grassroots democracy, which secured more than 50% of the vote, could work in other countries.
The constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official result, and a government must be formed within 90 days after that. Because Vučić stepped down as president to run for prime minister, a presidential election must also be held before 27 December.
Citazioni salienti
The election result is not seen as gaining power and privileges, but as taking on a historic debt to our own people and our children.— Ana Mirković, Student List candidate
After people are done celebrating, we will focus on what's coming up and how the government will look.— Nikola Burazer, Centre for Contemporary Politics
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Politics & Governance