Student List's 53% Win Puts Serbia's Economy Under New Management

Serbia's government contracts, state-owned companies and police appointments are set for a shakeup after the Student List took 53% of the vote, giving the movement 141 seats in the 250-seat parliament. Aleksandar Vučić's Serbian Progressive party finished with 39% and 103 seats; the rest went to national minority lists.

The Centre for Free Elections and Democracy in Belgrade released the projections after 100% of ballot samples were counted. Vučić conceded late on Sunday, ending 14 years in power. His party's defeat followed two years of protests that began when a canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station and killed 16 people.

Vučić's Serbian Progressive party extended control over the media, judiciary and state institutions during his tenure, and elections were marred by registration irregularities, media bias and voter bribes. The Student List platform calls for an independent police unit reporting to prosecutors rather than the interior ministry, a purge of officers linked to organised crime, a ban on appointing party loyalists to state-owned companies, and independent review of all major state infrastructure contracts.

The movement has no hierarchy and no designated prime minister. Named figures 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. Ana Mirković, a Student List candidate, said the movement's first priority is "the social and psychological detoxification" of the country, adding that the result is "taking on a historic debt to our own people and to our own children."

Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Centre for Contemporary Politics in Belgrade, said the movement's process for choosing candidates "actually took a long time, months" and needs to "be sped up" as it turns to forming a government. Dušan Vučićević, an analyst, said the movement "insisted as much as possible that Serbia must first and foremost address domestic political issues." The Kremlin said on Monday it hopes the new leaders "understand that cooperation with Russia is in Serbia's interests," while German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would "actively support Serbia's European path."

Serbia's constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official election result, then sets 90 days from that point for the government to be formed. The country must also hold presidential elections before 27 December, because Vučić stepped down from the post to run for prime minister.