by Maximiliano Crocamo
Interview: Dr. Jelena Vasiljević, a senior research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade and a visiting professor at the University of Trieste
Serbia’s student-led movement has secured a parliamentary majority in a snap election, marking a major political turning point after years of rule by Aleksandar Vučić, according to preliminary results.
Turnout was close to 70 percent, the highest since 1992, according to pollsters and the election commission. The projected seat count points to a decisive victory for the Student List, a movement that emerged from widespread protests over government accountability and the state of the country’s institutions.
The protests began after the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad in November 2024 killed 16 people. The disaster became a focal point for public anger over alleged corruption and institutional failures.
Dr. Jelena Vasiljević, a senior research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade and a visiting professor at the University of Trieste, described the result as a moment of profound relief.
“We are overwhelmed with joy,” she said.
Vasiljević described the Student List as a “leaderless movement of student organizations” operating through a horizontal structure. Its ability to keep citizens mobilized over nearly two years, she said, had helped it win more than half the vote.
The movement now faces the challenge of turning a protest campaign into a functioning government. Its representatives have developed a political program with the help of external experts, Vasiljević said, but forming an administration and rebuilding public institutions will be difficult.
“We need to bring trust, we need to restore trust into institutions,” she said.
Vučić, who has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president since 2014, stepped down as president on Sept. 27 to lead his party’s list in the parliamentary election, according to the Associated Press. Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabić subsequently assumed the role of acting president.
The election result raises questions about the future of Vučić’s political influence and the direction of Serbia’s institutions. A presidential election had not yet been announced at the time of Vasiljević’s remarks. Under Serbia’s constitutional framework, a new presidential election must be held within 90 days of a resignation, with a campaign lasting between 30 and 60 days, Reuters reported in September.
For Vasiljević, the priority is restoring institutions she described as weakened by years of political control.
“Right now what we have is devastation, institutional devastation,” she said, arguing that public institutions had been captured by political interests and that the media landscape had come under Vučić’s control.
Restoring those institutions to the public, she said, must come “before anything else.”
The Student List’s victory marks a significant shift in Serbian politics. Whether the movement can translate its broad public support into lasting institutional reform will be one of the central questions facing the country in the months ahead.
