Key Takeaways
- Serbia holds snap parliamentary elections as students protest against perceived corruption.
- Vucic, who has held power for over a decade, faces a tight race against the student-led movement.
- The student victory would represent a significant political shift in the Balkan country.
Serbia is holding snap parliamentary elections on Sunday as a mass student protest movement seeks to unseat long-time populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, who has held power for more than a decade. The elections, called by Vucic in September, come after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism.
The protests were triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024. The students have since gained widespread support, with many now calling for Vucic to step down.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) with first indications of results expected around two hours later. Opinion polls predict a tight race, with Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leading with 47% of votes versus 40% for the student-led movement.
Vucic, who resigned as president to run again for prime minister, is a strong incumbent. Many voters thank him for pulling Serbia from economic obscurity and orchestrating a period of sustained modernisation, including new highways, railways, schools, and hospitals.
Domestically, Vucic has pledged higher pensions and public sector salaries, investment in state healthcare, and subsidies for young couples. On the international stage, he has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union.
The students’ domestic agenda aims to root out graft and improve schooling, but they have been quieter on their international ambitions. Their list of 250 largely unknown candidates includes university professors, actors, and farmers, and is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic.
Bogdan Pavkovic, one of thousands in central Belgrade for a final student rally on Thursday, said he wants to change ‘this awful, horrendous system which cheats on us.’
Rights groups and activists say repression has worsened in the period since the protests began. The railway station canopy collapse occurred along a line being built to link Belgrade with the Hungarian capital Budapest, a project championed by Vucic but which protesters see as an emblem of government corruption turned deadly.
Within months, the student-led street protests had become the biggest in a generation, calling for Vucic to step down. The Serbian election is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country as the Student List mounts the biggest challenge against Vucic yet.
