Serbia's student-backed winners demand sweeping resignations after election victory

Serbia's student-led Student List movement has held its first press conference since winning power, using the moment to demand the resignation of senior figures across the police, intelligence and judiciary. The newly elected MPs gathered in Pioneers' Park, opposite parliament in Belgrade, and called for the immediate removal of officers they say broke the law. They singled out the heads of the police, the BIA security agency and the anti-terror unit.

The demand came days after the movement ousted the party of former president Aleksandar Vučić from power. According to the supporting material, the handover of authority is expected to take weeks, and the movement says that delay creates a risk that evidence of possible wrongdoing could be destroyed. The group is pressing for the dismissal of all police officers who it says acted unlawfully, framing the issue as part of a wider effort to secure accountability during the transition.

The scene in Pioneers' Park also reflected how quickly the political atmosphere has changed. The park had been a tent camp for Vučić loyalists outside his office until shortly before the press conference, but it was dismantled within hours of his admission of defeat on Sunday night. Volunteers then moved in on Monday morning to clean the area, underscoring the speed of the shift in control around parliament and the presidency.

The Student List movement emerged from protests after the fatal collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad in November 2024, an incident that killed 16 people. Those protests were driven by demands to bring those responsible to justice and to investigate corruption allegations linked to the disaster. The movement's rise from that campaign to national power gives the current transition a broader significance, because it is tied not only to an election result but also to public anger over accountability and state institutions.

The group has presented itself as a coalition of novice politicians, including intellectuals, professors, artists, athletes and as many as 12 medical doctors and surgeons. It has also set out a programme under its Student Plan, promising to halt what it calls the plunder, return stolen goods to the state budget, and invest directly in education and the economy. That agenda suggests the new leadership is trying to turn protest energy into a governing programme while also signalling a break with the previous administration.

There are already signs that the purge of Vučić loyalists has begun. At Serbia's state broadcaster RTS, director Manja Grčić has stepped down, according to the supporting material. The article also quotes newly elected MP Mirjana Nikolić, indicating that the new parliamentary group is beginning to speak publicly as the transition unfolds.

The immediate focus, however, remains on whether senior security and judicial officials will leave their posts before the transfer of power is complete. What remains unclear is how quickly the resignations demanded by the Student List movement can be secured, and whether the institutions named will comply before the handover is finished. It is also not yet clear what legal or administrative steps will follow if the officials refuse to stand down.

The coming weeks are likely to show whether the new leadership can preserve evidence, reshape the state apparatus and convert its election victory into durable control.

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