As Serbian student movement ends ruling party’s 12-year reign, here are the challenges they face

Serbia’s student-led political movement has secured a historic election victory. Preliminary results suggest the so-called Student List has won 141 of the 250 seats in parliament, with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party taking 104. The result brings the 12-year rule of Alexander Vučić to an end.

The Student List’s story is remarkable. It has no standalone leader and fielded candidates without political experience from across Serbian society. Stemming from student-led protests against the entrenched corruption and creeping authoritarianism of the ruling regime, it has now achieved an improbable dream.

In late 2025, one of us (Gavin Brent Sullivan) conducted focus groups with members of the student protest movement as part of the Pledge EU Horizon project. The project explores the emotional dynamics of political grievances and their democratic implications.

The protesters’ grievances were centred on the 2024 collapse of a roof at the newly renovated Novi Sad train station in northern Serbia, which killed 16 people. Allegations of state involvement through corruption in the procurement process and lowered building standards have been denied by the government. But they nonetheless sparked large nationwide protests.

Focus group participants expressed anger and underlying fear about harassment during the protests by what they said were government-funded gangs. They also spoke of their concern at the threats and violence directed...

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