Snap election threatens Vučić's grip

Serbians vote Sunday for a new parliament in elections that threaten populist leader Aleksandar Vučić's twelve years in power after two years of student protests.

Train station collapse sparked movement

On one November twenty twenty four, a concrete canopy collapsed outside Novi Sad train station, killing sixteen people. The tragedy sparked weekly student protests demanding justice.

Students saw corruption and negligence

Critics linked the station's fatally flawed renovation to Vučić, who had closely associated himself with the project. The collapse became emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia.

Movement grew beyond campuses

Student protests became a national movement encompassing farmers, actors and judges. In March twenty twenty five, Belgrade saw one of its biggest ever protests as the leaderless movement strengthened.

Student List fields diverse candidates

The Student List is fielding candidates from across Serbian society including teachers, professors, actors, doctors, farmers and scientists. Lead candidate Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist, said the energy was unstoppable.

“The energy is unstoppable.”

Student List demands four reforms

The movement wants to eradicate corruption, purge officials linked to rule-breaking or organised crime, reform Serbia's skewed media and stop recruiting party loyalists to head public enterprises.

Vučić seeks return to prime minister

Vučić has completed two terms as president and cannot seek a third. He now leads his party aiming to return to prime minister, which he left in twenty seventeen.

How Sunday's vote will work

Serbia's parliament has two hundred fifty seats under proportional representation. Six point four five million registered voters aged eighteen and over choose from eighteen lists. Only seven field all two hundred fifty candidates.

Watchdogs warn of unfair conditions

Independent watchdog CRTA warned of threats, violence and surveillance. It said state institutions engaged in electoral engineering instead of ensuring equal conditions. Serbian media devoted almost three quarters of TV coverage to government representatives.

European observers monitoring the vote

European observers are monitoring Sunday's vote.The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe cited a tense and divisive electoral climate.Some one hundred sixty attacks on media and journalists were recorded in Serbia this year.