Serbia's Student List Pushes Vučić to the Wire in a Neck-and-Neck Election

Ilija Srdanović turned up for his interview on a motorbike, wearing a fluorescent yellow jacket printed with pro-student slogans. He is a cardiologist and a professor at Novi Sad University, and he now heads the candidate list of the movement that poses the most serious challenge to Aleksandar Vučić since Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) entered government in 2012. Serbia votes in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

The movement is called the Student List. It grew out of almost two years of anti-corruption protests led by young Serbians, set off by the deaths of 16 people when a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, Serbia's second city. Students did not put themselves forward. Assemblies at the country's university faculties selected 250 candidates, none of them with a political background, ranging from academics and athletes to economists and engineers. Srdanović told the BBC it was absolutely normal for him to stand with his students in what he called their fair struggle.

The list has no hierarchy and no named leader, which makes it unlike anything in Serbia's relatively short democratic history. Srdanović heads the ballot but does not lead the movement, and he would not necessarily be its first choice for prime minister if it won. A Novi Sad student who gave only her first name, Aleksandra, said the students gathered people who are the best in their fields. She described a shared vision of a country with free speech, where you can walk home at night without being beaten by hooligans. Srdanović said the list offers the core values of civilised society, which he says the current government has taken from citizens.

Vučić has been deputy prime minister, prime minister and president since 2012. When he called these snap elections last month, he stood down as president to run for prime minister. Whatever his title, there has been little doubt about who is in charge, an image promoted by Serbia's largely uncritical media. He keeps strong support among many Serbians, who see him as a strong leader defending the country's interests, and he can point to significant economic growth over the past decade and numerous infrastructure improvements. He has described the student movement as foreign-backed and bent on bringing down the state, telling supporters at his final rally: let us always protect and defend it.

Critics say the playing field is tilted. At the 2023 parliamentary election, the International Election Observation Mission noted an overwhelming ruling party advantage, citing media bias and misuse of public office and resources. The BBC approached leading SNS figures for an interview and was not offered a response. For the past 18 months a full-time pro-SNS camp has also stood in the small park between the National Assembly and the Presidency in central Belgrade. Its residents have repeatedly attacked journalists and made the park a no-go zone for locals. Vučić has called it a symbol of resistance against those who cannot stand different opinions.

His greatest vulnerability remains Novi Sad. The station's renovation was part of his signature project, the high-speed line between Belgrade and Budapest, so distancing himself has been hard. Magda Anastasijevic, Eastern Europe analyst at the conflict monitor ACLED, said Vučić has survived such episodes before by finding a scapegoat, but that this was not possible with the canopy.

Abroad, he has balanced EU membership talks, which continue fitfully, against close ties with Russia and China, neither of which recognises Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia. He has warned those ties could be severed if the Student List won, saying that when asked whether they would impose sanctions on Russia, they offer only silence and hesitation.

The closing rallies showed the contrast. The SNS filled Belgrade Arena with Vučić as the only speaker. Across the Sava, the Student List reportedly drew 150,000 people to Slavija Square to hear a mix of students and candidates. Reliable polls are scarce, but analysts expect an extremely tight result, and voters now choose between a single strong leader and a collective approach.