Kathmandu, October 26
The 14-year rule of Serbia’s right-wing leader and former president Aleksandar Vučić has collapsed.
His government fell after the student-led movement “Student List” won a majority in Sunday’s parliamentary election. Vučić has conceded that his party was defeated by the Student List.
According to preliminary results, the Student List has won more than 135 seats in Serbia’s 250-seat parliament. Vučić’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) coalition was limited to 105 seats.
Turnout was about 70 percent, the highest voter participation since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 2000.
As the results came in, thousands of young people and other citizens celebrated in major cities including the capital Belgrade and Novi Sad. They have been chanting “Aleksandar is gone!” and reviving the historic slogan “He’s finished!”, which rang out when Slobodan Milošević fell in 2000.
The foundation of this historic political change was laid after a terrible accident in November 2024, when the concrete canopy of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people. University students across the country took to the streets, saying the main causes of the accident were government corruption, cronyism and substandard construction.
The street movement, which began as a demand for accountability and an end to corruption, later grew into a full political movement and an electoral front.
The Student List did not put forward any traditional political leader. Student leaders assembled an inclusive list of candidates, including professors, artists, athletes and farmers, led by cardiologist Dr Ilija Srdanović. Most of those candidates have won.
Speaking after the victory was announced, the Student List’s lead candidate Dr Srdanović said, “Tonight the voice of the people has been heard. From tomorrow, we will begin working to restore the rule of law and democracy. We have proved that change is possible if there is strong will. Now we will all build a country where people get truth, a voice and a future.”
Ties with the Trump family and impact on US geopolitics
Vučić’s fall has sent new ripples through the geopolitical balance between the United States and Europe.
Vučić had built close relations with Donald Trump Jr., son of US president Donald Trump, and with special envoy Richard Grenell. Controversy erupted after a company owned by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner moved ahead with a multibillion-dollar project to convert the old Ministry of Defence building in Belgrade into a luxury hotel and residential complex.
Vučić had maintained a strategic balance between Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China) and Washington. But the victory of a younger generation leaning more toward the European Union is expected to move Serbia away from Russian influence and closer to a European democratic framework.
The political road ahead
With a clear majority in the parliamentary election, the Student List must now choose a new prime minister and begin forming a new government.
A separate election to choose a new president will also be held in Serbia this December. Vučić resigned as president last month with the aim of becoming prime minister.
But after suffering an embarrassing defeat in the parliamentary election itself, a big question mark now hangs over his political future. The historic win is being seen as part of a growing anti-government and anti-corruption wave among young people across Europe.
