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A student-led movement that emerged after a deadly railway station collapse has won Serbia’s snap parliamentary election, challenging the political camp led by President Aleksandar Vucic, which has been in power for more than a decade.
Vucic conceded defeat following Sunday’s snap election, putting the Student List, a slate of candidates selected by student assemblies, on course to form the next government.
The movement has brought together academics, doctors, artists, farmers and activists under a campaign promising to tackle corruption and restore public trust in state institutions.
But while students organized the campaign and selected its candidates, none stood for parliament themselves.
And despite its electoral victory, the movement has yet to announce who will lead the next government.
The protests erupted after a concrete canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station on Nov. 1, 2024, ultimately killing 16 people.
The disaster, at a recently renovated station, sparked accusations of corruption, poor oversight, and failures in public procurement.
Tensions escalated after students and lecturers holding a vigil in Belgrade were attacked weeks later.
Four days later, students at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts began a blockade, demanding accountability for the attacks. Other universities soon joined.
The students organized through plenums, assemblies where participants debated and voted on decisions, rather than appointing a single leader.
Their initial demands included the release of documents relating to the station's reconstruction, prosecution of those who attacked protesters, dismissal of charges against detained students and increased university funding.
The movement soon spread beyond campuses, drawing support from teachers, farmers, professionals and other citizens.
Months of demonstrations contributed to the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic in January 2025, although the protests continued after Djuro Macut formed a new government in April.
One of the largest demonstrations took place in Belgrade on March 15, 2025, drawing an estimated 275,000 to 325,000 people, according to the independent Archive of Public Gatherings, and between 88,000 and 107,000, according to official estimates.
The movement also had support beyond those attending rallies. A CRTA survey published in January 2025 found that 61% of respondents supported the protests and blockades, including some people closer to governing parties.
By May 2025, students were demanding early parliamentary elections.
Rather than establish a conventional political party, the movement formed a citizens' group and selected candidates through more than a year of assemblies, discussions and collective work.
Its electoral slate, known as "Student List - Students Win," featured 250 candidates from different professions and regions.
Students themselves were excluded from the list, as were former members of governing coalition parties and former officials of parliamentary opposition parties. The candidates include doctors, university staff, artists, entrepreneurs and activists from different parts of Serbia.
The campaign relied heavily on volunteers traveling across Serbia, meeting voters and presenting the election as an opportunity to challenge entrenched political power.
With almost 99% of votes counted, the Student List had secured 52.7% of the vote, compared with 39.2% for the alliance led by Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, according to preliminary election commission figures. That would give the Student List 139 seats in the 250-member parliament.
The Student List has not publicly named a candidate for prime minister.
However, two prominent figures have attracted the most attention: cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, who heads the parliamentary list, and former central bank governor Dejan Soskic.
Srdanovic is a professor at the University of Novi Sad's Faculty of Medicine and has worked at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina since 1997.
A prominent supporter of the protests, he has advocated improvements to Serbia's healthcare system, particularly primary and secondary care.
During the campaign, he emphasized direct engagement with voters. Following the election, he also called for better relations with neighboring countries and the international community.
Soskic, an economics professor at the University of Belgrade, served as governor of the National Bank of Serbia from 2010 to 2012.
He resigned after proposed legislative changes that he argued threatened the central bank's independence.
His economic background has made him a prominent figure in discussions about the direction of a future government.
Vucic claimed during the campaign that Soskic was the students' preferred candidate for prime minister, but the movement has not confirmed that.
Radomir Saicic, another candidate, has said lawmakers would decide on a prime minister in consultation with the student movement.
The Student List brings together figures from academia, sports, culture and grassroots activism.
Dejan Bodiroga, a former basketball star and current Euroleague Basketball president, is among its most recognizable names.
A three-time EuroLeague champion who played for clubs including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Panathinaikos, Bodiroga is 24th on the list.
Saicic, ranked 91st, is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Belgrade and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
An outspoken supporter of the protests, he has also criticized the authorities' handling of Kosovo.
Sociologist Jovo Bakic, 76th on the list, is known for his criticism of Vucic's administration.
A professor at the University of Belgrade, Bakic has researched nationalism, political sociology and Europe's far right.
After Vucic conceded, Bakic told N1 that he had expected a decisive student victory but had not expected Vucic to acknowledge defeat. He called for action against organized crime.
Farmer Zlatko Kokanovic, 17th on the list, is a leading opponent of Rio Tinto's proposed Jadar lithium and boron mining project.
He has pledged to seek a permanent ban on lithium and boron exploration and extraction, bringing environmental concerns into the movement's political agenda.
Playwright Zeljko Hubac, third on the list, and actor Tihomir Stanic, eighth, are also prominent figures from the cultural sphere.
Hubac helped establish the citizens' group through which the movement contested the election, while Stanic publicly supported its campaign.
Other candidates include Mirjana Nikolic, rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade, civil engineering academic Sanja Fric, geological engineer Zoran Djajic and lawyer Sarah El Sarag.
Their varied backgrounds reflect the movement's attempt to build a political alternative far beyond Serbia's established parties.
The Student List's 11-point program focuses on fighting corruption, strengthening institutions and improving living standards.
Its proposals include protecting courts and prosecutors from political interference, investigating officials' assets and confiscating illegally acquired property.
It also promises greater transparency in public procurement, audits of infrastructure projects and reforms to public broadcasters and media regulators.
Appointments to state-owned enterprises would be based on professional qualifications rather than political connections, the plan adds.
The program also includes free school textbooks, affordable housing, greater support for farmers and domestic businesses, and improved access to medicines and healthcare in rural areas.
On employment, it proposes reducing the maximum duration of fixed-term contracts from 24 to 12 months.
Many of these pledges address grievances that fueled the protests, particularly corruption, weak institutions and declining trust in public services.
Winning the election does not automatically give the Student List control of the government.
Under Serbia's Constitution, the president nominates a prime minister after consulting representatives of the parties and lists elected to parliament.
The nominee then presents a proposed Cabinet and government program to the 250-member National Assembly. At least 126 lawmakers must vote in favor for the government to take office.
Election-night projections suggested the Student List had secured enough seats to reach that threshold on its own, although the final allocation depends on certified results.
The new parliament must convene within 30 days of the official declaration of results. If lawmakers fail to elect a government within 90 days of the assembly's formation, parliament is dissolved.
The process is complicated by Vucic's resignation as president on Sept. 27 to pursue the premiership.
Parliamentary Speaker Ana Brnabic, a close Vucic ally, is serving as acting president pending a separate presidential election due before the end of the year.
The Student List’s parliamentary victory now puts the movement in a strong position to challenge Vucic’s camp for the presidency as well.
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