Serbian Vote Shift: Student List Claims Majority, Vučić Falls to Second

The Student List won more than 50% of the vote in Serbia's parliamentary election on Sunday.

The result places the new movement ahead of the Serbian Progressive Party, which will finish in second place. Aleksandar Vučić, who has led the country as deputy prime minister, prime minister, or president since 2012, conceded defeat shortly after polls closed. The concession triggered immediate celebrations in Belgrade, where residents fired fireworks, popped champagne, and honked car horns in the streets. Most opposition parties withdrew their candidates to allow the Student List a clear path to victory.

The Student List emerged from a protest movement that began after a concrete canopy collapsed at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad in November 2024. That accident killed 16 people and was part of a high-speed rail line linking Belgrade to Budapest. Demonstrators cited the disaster as evidence of corruption under Vučić's administration. The group fielded candidates without a formal hierarchy or a single leader. Its parliamentary members include academics, athletes, economists, and engineers.

Vučić had maintained a dual foreign policy approach, keeping close ties with Russia while pursuing European Union membership. He also sought stronger relations with the United States. A proposed deal with Jared Kushner to build a Trump International Hotel on the site of buildings bombed by U.S. warplanes in 1999 sparked legal disputes and led to Kushner's withdrawal from the project.

Kurt Bassuener, co-founder of the Democratization Policy Council, warned that the new government faces internal challenges. He noted that the coalition is broad and that disagreements may surface quickly. Bassuener stated that it is unclear who will hold which positions in the new cabinet. The Student List candidates previously occupied the third spot on the ballot, but their vote share exceeded that of any other bloc.

In Belgrade, volunteers cleaned the park opposite the National Assembly. The area had been used as a staging ground for pro-government supporters and was restricted to the general public before the vote. Radomir Delic, a volunteer picking cigarette butts from the grass, described the moment as the smell of freedom. He said the group is surrounded by garbage but feels liberated by the outcome.

The election marks the end of a 14-year period of dominance for Vučić's party. The Student List now holds the mandate to form a government, though the specific distribution of ministerial roles remains undetermined.