Serbia’s student movement fields 250 candidates as election nears

Serbia’s student protest movement has fielded a 250-candidate list for the country’s October 25 snap election, turning a campaign born after a deadly railway station collapse into a challenge to Aleksandar Vucic’s party, Reuters reported from Belgrade on October 21. A poll published the previous day put the student list narrowly ahead, although the vote has yet to take place.

The New Serbian Political Thought poll gave the Students Win list 44.5% and Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party 42.7%, according to Reuters. It was the only poll published that month, the news agency said; it did not give the poll’s methodology in its account. Reuters also reported that betting odds favoured Vucic.

How the student movement built an election campaign

In interviews with Reuters, a dozen students and teachers described a campaign of door-knocking and peaceful marches, with a tightly controlled message and rotating leaders intended to protect individuals from government smear campaigns. The movement grew after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people. Early protests included traffic blockades in Novi Sad and Belgrade, with a minute observed for each person killed.

Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics since 2014, stepped down as president in September to run for prime minister in the snap election, Reuters reported. He has accused the student movement of trying to destroy Serbia and of receiving funding from foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro. The students deny being organised from abroad.

Rights groups, activists and students told Reuters that police had beaten protesters and threatened people who voiced opposition online. Vucic and the authorities have repeatedly denied allegations of corruption and violence and attempts to discredit the opposition. Government representatives did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

Questions about governing and Kosovo

Details remain scant about how the student movement would pursue its pledges on corruption, transparency, media freedom and education reform, Reuters reported. Its positions on EU membership and Kosovo have also drawn criticism, leaving voters with limited clarity about how the list would govern if elected.

Kosovo remains a consequential foreign-policy issue for Serbia. In an October 20 statement to the UN Security Council, the UK said normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia was essential to long-term stability and both countries’ European futures. It called on both sides to implement existing agreements, including the Ohrid agreement, and urged Serbia to provide records to help resolve cases of people still missing after the conflict.