Serbia's Student List moves to form government after winning 53% of vote

Serbia's Student List has begun preparations to form a new government after winning 53% of the vote in Sunday's parliamentary elections. The coalition secured 141 seats in the 250-member parliament, marking a decisive victory over the ruling Serbian Progressive party. Aleksandar Vučić, the former president who led the Progressive party, conceded defeat late on Sunday night. His exit ends a 14-year period of rule that observers had described as an authoritarian regime.

The result was driven by two years of anti-government protests that began after a canopy collapse at the Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people. The Student List is a leaderless movement built on collective decision-making. It has no single figurehead and no hierarchy. Prominent candidates include Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist; Dejan Šoškić, a former central bank governor; and Radomir Saičić, a chemistry professor at Belgrade University who announced the victory.

The movement faces the task of governing institutions staffed by civil servants loyal to the outgoing administration. Its platform focuses on fighting corruption and restoring the rule of law. Specific goals include creating an independent police unit accountable to prosecutors and purging officers linked to organized crime. The list also aims to ban party loyalists from state-owned companies and to subject major infrastructure contracts to scrutiny by independent bodies.

Ana Mirković, a Student List candidate and university educationist, stated that the group views the election result as a historic debt to the people. She said the first priority is the social and psychological detoxification of the country. Mirković told the Guardian that the new government would dismantle a system of intimidation and urgently open up the media. She added that the goal is to rebuild society by ensuring full disclosure of financial flows and depoliticizing the judiciary.

The coalition kept foreign policy issues in the background during the campaign. The Kremlin expressed hope on Monday that the new leaders understand cooperation with Russia is in Serbia's interests. Dušan Vučićević, an analyst, noted that the movement prioritized domestic political issues from the start. He told Agence France-Presse that the experiment in grassroots democracy secured more than 50% of the vote, though he noted it is unclear if the model will work elsewhere.

Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Centre for Contemporary Politics, said the movement's decision-making process needs to be sped up. He noted that the candidate selection process took months. Burazer said that after the initial celebrations, attention will turn to how the government will be structured. He described the prospect of a functional administration as having seemed like a fantasy just 24 hours prior to the result.

Vučić blamed his party's defeat on the direct support of European countries and the US deep state. He made this claim while maintaining close ties with Russia during his tenure. International leaders welcomed the result on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a new chapter in the country's history and thanked Serbia for respecting Ukraine's independence. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would actively support Serbia's path to Europe.

The Serbian constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official election result. It sets a 90-day deadline for the formation of the new government. The country must also hold new presidential elections before 27 December because Vučić stepped down to run for the prime minister's office.