Student-led list topples Vucic in Serbian snap election
Voter turnout hit a 30-year high as a movement born from a fatal train station collapse defeated the long-ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
By Ayanda Novak ·
Aleksandar Vucic, the long-serving president of Serbia, conceded defeat in Sunday's snap parliamentary elections to a student-led political list. The result marks the end of more than a decade of dominant political control by his Serbian Progressive Party.
Three key outcomes defined the election night. First, the Student List was projected to secure between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member parliament. Second, Vucic's list was expected to take 105 seats, a substantial decline from previous majorities. Third, voter participation reached its highest level in over three decades, signaling a sharp shift in civic engagement.
The political movement that defeated Vucic traces its origins to a specific tragedy. On November 1, 2024, a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people. In the aftermath, youth-led protests expanded into a wide wave of social unrest. The demonstrators, which included university professors, doctors, and workers, eventually formed the Student List platform. Ilija Srdanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, led the campaign for the new group.
Vucic, who was born in Belgrade in 1970, entered politics in 1993 with the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party. He co-founded the Serbian Progressive Party in 2008 with Tomislav Nikolic. The new party aimed to move closer to mainstream European politics after a split in the Radical Party. Vucic served as first deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2014, then as prime minister, and became president in 2017. He won re-election in 2022, though he resigned in September of this year under protest pressure before calling for early votes.
The economic record during Vucic's tenure showed growth in key metrics. Unemployment dropped from 26 percent to between 8 and 9 percent. Nominal gross domestic product nearly tripled to approximately 90 billion euros. Foreign direct investment rose from roughly 800 million euros in 2012 to a record 5.2 billion euros in 2024. However, critics noted that higher wages did not always match rising living standards, and public debt remained a central point of contention.
Political scientist Dusko Radosavljevic stated that the students gave voice to the justified anger of citizens. He described the previous decade as a period of systematic pressure and the destruction of social institutions. Vucic had previously labeled the demonstrators as blockaders and accused them of trying to destabilize Serbia. Journalist Safeta Bisevac observed that while Vucic made many promises, he fulfilled few, establishing near-complete control over the state apparatus in the interim.
Source: Al Jazeera
