Student List defeats Vučić after protests over 16 deaths in Novi Sad.
Voter turnout reached 67.6%, the highest since Yugoslavia’s breakup.
Students campaigned on fighting corruption and restoring Serbian democracy.
The student-led protest movement, Student List, has won the Serbian parliamentary election, ousting the country’s authoritarian leader Aleksandar Vučić.
Long-time leader Aleksandar Vučić has now conceded defeat to the student-led movement in snap parliamentary elections. “It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won,” Vučić said in a televised address.
The win comes as student movements in Europe and other parts of the world protest against corruption, education policies, rising living costs and a lack of government accountability.
In Serbia, the movement grew out of protests that began nearly two years ago after 16 people died when a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024.
Celebrations broke out in Belgrade and other Serbian cities after reports emerged that Vučić’s 12-year rule had ended. At the Student List headquarters, supporters cheered “Victory, victory!” as they hugged, applauded and cried, according to the Guardian.
The celebrations were after a record voter turnout on Sunday. Long queues formed outside polling stations across the country, with some voters waiting up to two hours.
By 7 pm local time, pollsters and election monitors CeSID and Ipsos reported turnout at 67.6%, the highest since Yugoslavia broke apart in 1992.
Student Protests Led To Fall Of Vučić Government
Facing growing pressure from student protests, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called snap elections after stepping down from the presidency last month. The students saw the election as a chance to turn their protest movement into political power.
They announced 250 candidates for the country’s 250-seat parliament, including academics, athletes and farmers. Their campaign focused on rebuilding Serbia’s economy and restoring democracy.
The students faced a tough contest against Vučić’s ruling SNS party, which had a strong grip on the country’s media and state institutions. The party controlled almost all broadcast channels and used government ministries and other institutions to its political advantage, reported the Guardian.
Vučić repeatedly accused the student movement of serving foreign interests, but the students rejected the claims. He also promised higher pensions and public sector salaries while presenting himself as a leader who could balance Serbia’s ties with the West, Russia and China amid global uncertainty.
The students continued their campaign through street rallies, visits to rural areas that had long supported Vučić, and door-to-door outreach. They presented themselves as alternatives to the established political system and urged voters to support their campaign slogan: “Serbia or Mafia?”
Vučić first gained prominence in the 1990s as a radical nationalist. He supported Slobodan Milošević’s policies of Serbian expansion and ethnic cleansing. He has remained one of Serbia’s most powerful political figures for more than a decade.
