Serbia Faces 90-Day Deadline After Student List Landslide Win

The Student List has secured a landslide victory in Serbia, winning 53% of the vote and 141 seats in the 250-seat parliament. This result ends the 14-year rule of Aleksandar Vučić, who conceded defeat late on Sunday. The movement now faces a strict 90-day constitutional deadline to form a government and select a prime minister, despite having no formal hierarchy or clear leader.

The political shift follows two years of protests that began after a canopy collapse at the Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people. With 100% of ballot samples counted, the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy reported that Vučić’s Serbian Progressive party won 39% of the vote, securing 103 seats. The remaining seats went to national minority party lists.

The Student List is structured around collective decision-making rather than a traditional leadership model. Its candidates include students, academics, actors, and farmers. Prominent figures on the list include Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist who headed the candidate list, Dejan Šoškić, a former central bank governor, and Radomir Saičić, a chemistry professor at Belgrade University who spoke on behalf of the group after the win.

Ana Mirković, a university educationist and candidate, stated that the group views the result as taking on a historic debt rather than gaining privileges. She described the first priority as the social and psychological detoxification of the country. Mirković said the new government will dismantle a system of intimidation by urgently opening up the media and stopping institutional violence.

The platform pledges to fight corruption and restore the rule of law. Specific measures include creating an independent police unit accountable to prosecutors rather than the interior ministry and purging police officers linked to organized crime. The list also aims to ban party loyalist appointments to state-owned companies and to subject major state infrastructure contracts to scrutiny by new independent bodies.

The movement faces the challenge of governing through institutions staffed by civil servants loyal to the outgoing regime. Vučić’s tenure was marked by control over media, the judiciary, and state institutions. The Kremlin expressed hope on Monday that the new leaders understand that cooperation with Russia remains in Serbia’s interests, though the Student List kept foreign policy issues in the background during the campaign.

Vučić blamed his defeat on direct support from European countries and the US deep state. International leaders responded with congratulations on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the win a new chapter in the country’s history. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated that Berlin would actively support Serbia’s European path.

Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Belgrade-based Centre for Contemporary Politics, noted that the movement’s decision-making process needs to be sped up. He observed that the candidate selection process took months. Burazer said that once the celebration ends, the focus will shift to how the government will look and function.

Serbia’s constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official election result. The country must also hold new presidential elections before 27 December, as Vučić stepped down to run for prime minister. The 90-day clock for government formation begins once the parliament convenes.

Supporters took to the streets in Belgrade on Monday following the announcement of the projected results. The Student List’s win marks a profound political shift in the region. The movement’s success may offer inspiration to other student groups in Europe that have emerged recently to demand better education standards and prospects.