Student-led movement defeats Vučić's party in Serbian parliamentary landslide

Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia's dominant political figure for more than fourteen years, conceded defeat following parliamentary elections held on 25 October. The former president had resigned from his post in late September after becoming constitutionally unable to seek a third term, and subsequently called the snap election hoping to assume the role of prime minister. However, results confirmed that the student-led Students' List would secure between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat assembly, whilst his own bloc would obtain roughly 105 seats, with no other parties reaching parliament.

The election outcome concluded nearly two years of anti-government protests that emerged following the deadly collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, an incident that claimed 16 lives. Public discontent intensified as reports suggested that corrupt practices had contributed to substandard construction at the station—a major project developed by Chinese firms—while citizens simultaneously expressed broader concerns that Vučić was directing Serbia toward authoritarian governance. These factors catalysed the emergence of the Students' List as a reform-oriented electoral alternative.

Ilija Srdanovic, the slate's leading candidate, declared that "tomorrow, we begin working to build a state governed by the rule of law." Throughout his extended tenure, Vučić had repositioned himself from his earlier ultranationalist stance toward portraying himself as a reformer committed to Serbia's European Union membership path, whilst simultaneously maintaining substantial diplomatic relations with Moscow and Beijing—a delicate equilibrium that now faces an uncertain trajectory under the incoming administration.