Student-backed movement wins Serbia snap parliamentary election, ending ruling party's long grip on power
Celebrations have broken out across Serbia after a student-backed movement won snap parliamentary elections and ended the ruling party's long hold on power. In Belgrade, crowds gathered in central squares and around parliament late on Sunday as fireworks lit the sky and cars draped in Serbian flags sounded their horns. The result marks a major political shift in the country after nearly two years of student-led unrest.
Advert for a company owned by the publisher of 360LiveNews.
The victory follows a protest movement that began after the collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station in 2024, an incident that killed 16 people. The disaster was widely blamed by protesters on corruption and cronyism, and it became the catalyst for one of Serbia's largest protest waves since the 2000 overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic. According to the supporting report, the movement culminated in the election win that removed President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling party from power.
At the Student List headquarters, supporters hugged, cried and chanted in celebration. Student Mila Martic said she felt as though she was finally living in a free country, while people around her raised three fingers, the Student List ballot symbol and a traditional Serbian greeting. Candidate Radomir Saicic, a university professor, said Serbia had won and called for peaceful, dignified celebrations as well as serious and responsible work from Monday.
The result matters because it appears to close a long political chapter in which Mr Vucic's party dominated national politics. It also reflects the scale of public anger that built up around the Novi Sad tragedy and broader complaints about governance. The election outcome suggests that the student movement has translated street mobilisation into formal political power, a development with implications for Serbia's domestic direction and its relationship with institutions that have been under pressure from protesters.
Advert for a company owned by the publisher of 360LiveNews.
The protests that fed into the election were not a short-lived reaction. They grew over many months into a wider challenge to the government, drawing in large crowds and becoming a symbol of frustration over corruption and mismanagement. The supporting material says the movement became one of the biggest in Serbia since the fall of Milosevic in 2000, underlining how unusual the scale of mobilisation has been.
What remains unclear from the available information is the full parliamentary arithmetic, the next steps in forming a government and how the defeated ruling party will respond. It is also not yet clear how quickly the new political balance will translate into policy changes or whether tensions will continue after the celebrations. For now, the immediate focus is on the aftermath in Belgrade and the dismantling of pro-government encampments near parliament as the country enters a new political phase.
#Serbia #election #studentmovement #AleksandarVucic #Belgrade
