Serbia has spent the last few days in complete and utter ecstasy. People filled the streets of Belgrade and Novi Sad celebrating the end of an era: the student-led movement beat the longtime ruling party. Serbia’s Student List won the election, and Aleksandar Vučić, who has dominated the country’s politics for 14 years, stood in front of the cameras and conceded defeat. Turnout was the highest in more than 30 years.
The protests date back to Nov. 1st, 2024, when a station canopy collapsed and killed 16 people in Novi Sad. Students demanded accountability, and almost two years of protests, blockades, and marches followed. On Sunday night, when the news reached the streets, it felt like anything was possible. And while the footage of that night is everywhere, one must ask what the winners actually plan to do and how. According to their official website, their platform is divided into three sections.
- Freeing the courts. The first point is to take the courts and the prosecutor’s office out of politics. They propose a vetted special unit that would investigate corruption independently and arrest those responsible, along with protection for judges and prosecutors from political pressure.
- “Knowledge is power.” The second point is about putting experts at the heart of the state. They say they will end politically motivated hiring, use strict public tenders, and appoint proven experts instead of party loyalists to run public companies. The proposal that has already caught public attention is free textbooks for every primary and secondary school student, plus affordable school trips and extracurriculars.
- “Serbia grows with us.” A competitive market economy built on the interests of citizens, “rather than on private arrangements between those in power and their associates,” with priority given to knowledge-based sectors. Assets recovered from people who acquired them illegally would go back into development and public services to help citizens buy homes, start families, and stay in the country.
It sounds almost ideal, but the first point rests on an important premise. A vetted anti-corruption unit only works if the courts behind it can act independently, which is exactly what is missing. Reports say Vučić brought large parts of the judiciary under his control, so their first promise depends on fixing the thing it’s supposed to fix. And next to free textbooks, which voters can easily check, the economic section is far vaguer. Where does the recovered money come from, and how long will it take?
Poland has had a similar past that we can take as an example. In 2023, a broad opposition coalition led by Donald Tusk won power after eight years of Law and Justice rule, promising to repair the courts. Two years later, a German Marshall Fund analysis found limited progress, blaming presidential obstruction and a Constitutional Tribunal that acts as a veto player. Winning the election didn’t mean the state would cooperate. That’s why the presidential election in December matters, because it will show how much room the students actually have to govern.
There’s also a problem inside the movement. The Student List has mostly been defined by being “anti-Vučić,” which was enough to bring together professors, teachers, and a lot of different opposition voices. While that might be enough for a protest, it might not be enough to actually run a political party. It’s harder to stay united once the person you were against is gone and you have to agree on actual decisions. And the person at the top, Ilija Srdanović, is a little-known cardiologist from Novi Sad. Putting experts above career politicians is a big part of their appeal, but it means very little experience running a state full of people appointed by the old system.
And not everyone voted for them. Even in Axios’s projection, Vučić’s coalition still takes around 105 of the 250 seats.
However, the achievements are still impressive, because the students weren’t playing on a fair field. International election observers had criticized Serbia’s media regulator for not being independent of the government. Student representatives themselves agreed the electoral conditions were unfair but said high turnout could still carry them. Vreme reported that the ruling party even set up a phantom “student list” in a local election in Kula to confuse voters. And turnout did hit a 30-year high.
The goals of the movement are definitely noble and ideal, and while it would be extremely beneficial if they achieved all of them, they have to overcome some obstacles in the next steps they take. Despite all the challenges they might face, the important thing is this: students were able to come together, organize, put together a political list, and win. They were able to work inside the corrupt system and persevere. Hopefully, this sends a message across the world.
The Zeitgeist aims to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board.
