Serbian Politics: Student List defeats Vucic in historic election

Serbia’s political center of gravity shifted on Sunday when Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat in snap parliamentary elections. The result marked the end of a decade-long dominance by the Serbian Progressive Party, which Vucic leads. He stepped down from the presidency in September under pressure from sustained public demonstrations.

The Student List, a coalition rooted in youth-led protests, secured between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member parliament. The outgoing leader’s party was expected to win 105 seats. Vucic acknowledged the outcome to supporters after exit polls confirmed the shift, stating that the party had lost the election. This contest drew the highest level of voter participation in more than 30 years.

The opposition movement originated in November 2024 following a structural failure at a train station in Novi Sad. That incident killed 16 people and sparked a two-year campaign of unrest. The protests evolved into a formal political platform that pledged to reduce corruption and depoliticize public institutions. Ilija Srdanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, led the campaign for the Student List.

During the race, Vucic labeled the demonstrators as blockaders who sought to destabilize the nation. He maintained a pragmatic foreign policy stance that preserved ties with the European Union, Russia, and China. His domestic record has been mixed, with official data showing nominal gross domestic product nearly tripling since 2012. Unemployment rates also fell from 26 percent to roughly 9 percent.

Despite these macroeconomic gains, critics argue that living standards did not improve in proportion to wage growth. Annual foreign direct investment reached a record 5.2 billion euros in 2024. However, the rising cost of living and public debt remained central points of contention in the final days of the campaign. A modern network of motorways was constructed during his tenure, but infrastructure failures like the Novi Sad collapse highlighted ongoing maintenance issues.

Vucic entered politics in 1993 as a member of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party. He co-founded the Serbian Progressive Party in 2008 after a split with that group. His mentor, Vojislav Seselj, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 for crimes against non-Serbs during the Balkan wars. Aleksandar Seselj, the former leader’s son, ran on Vucic’s list in the recent vote.

Journalist Safeta Bisevac noted that Vucic initially lagged behind his co-founder in popularity when the party was established. She observed that while the party promised to fight corruption and organized crime, its control over state apparatus expanded. Bisevac cited the 2012 arrest of businessman Miroslav Miskovic as a key case. Both he and his son were eventually acquitted, and the state paid compensation.

Political scientist Dusko Radosavljevic described the student movement as a channel for justified citizen anger. He characterized the past decade of governance as defined by systematic pressure on social institutions. Radosavljevic stated that state intelligence services spent more time monitoring political opponents than performing their primary duties, while critical thinking was pushed out of public media.