Serbia student list wins as Vucic concedes defeat
SCMP · 6 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Serbia voted on Sunday in its most fiercely contested parliamentary election in more than 14 years, with a student-backed anti-corruption movement challenging the long-dominant Serbian Progressive Party. By late Sunday, the student-backed list “Student List - Students Win” had declared victory, and former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said his own projections showed his side had lost. The election followed nearly two years of protests triggered by the 2024 Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse that killed 16 people and became a rallying point for anger over corruption. Projections cited by Vucic indicated the student-backed list would win between 135 and 140 seats in Serbia’s 250-member parliament, above the 126 needed for a majority.
Key Points
- Polls opened on Sunday for all 250 parliamentary seats, with 18 electoral lists competing and about 6.45 million eligible voters casting ballots at 8,392 polling stations.
- The student movement emerged from protests after the November 2024 Novi Sad canopy collapse killed 16 people, a disaster widely blamed on corruption.
- Vucic said a stratified sample showed “Student List - Students Win” taking 135 to 140 seats, while his coalition would secure around 105.
- Initial projections from Ipsos and CeSID put the student-backed list on 52 percent, ahead of the SNS-led “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” coalition on 39.3 percent.
- Vucic resigned as president on Sept. 27 to run in the parliamentary election, and a new presidential vote is required by the end of December.
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the result shows how a protest movement centred on accountability can be converted into an electoral challenge that overturns an entrenched ruling party. It also opens a period of political transition in Serbia, with a new parliamentary majority and a presidential election still due by the end of December.