Serbia, the Student List ends 14 years of Vučić's rule

The early parliamentary elections held in Serbia on Sunday, October 25, marked the end of 14 years of Aleksandar Vučić’s rule. The Student List, the movement born from the mobilizations of recent months, obtained about 53.5% of the vote and 141 seats out of 250, against 39.6% and 103 seats for the list led by Vučić himself.

Voter turnout was 68.95%, about ten percentage points higher than in the 2023 elections. This figure signals an electoral mobilization above the average of recent Serbian votes and accompanied a result considered decisive given the wide margin between the two main camps.

Vučić acknowledged defeat live on television, publicly closing a 14-year political cycle in power. The handover comes after months marked by widespread protests across the country, the same movement that gave its name to the now-winning list.

Two days after the vote, the European Union took a position on the result. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, issued a joint statement on October 28 through the European External Action Service. The two wrote: “Voters have given the next government a strong mandate for change” (transl. from English).

The EU statement explicitly links the high turnout to the election result, presenting it as a sign of a popular demand for change that the new government will be called upon to translate into concrete action. The shift from street protest to parliamentary representation, with 141 out of 250 seats available to the Student List, now puts the formation in the position of having to build a governing majority after winning the elections with a margin of over thirteen percentage points over Vučić’s party.