From the streets to the ballot box: Serbia’s students hope for election win

Young Serbians have built a system that poses a threat to President Aleksandar Vucic’s grip on power.

Students cheer and celebrate as they arrive in central Belgrade on October 21, 2026, after walking for several days to attend the student movement's final major rally ahead of Serbia's October 25 snap elections [AFP]

It all began on the streets.

A student-led movement has emerged as the most serious challenger to the long rule of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and its leader, Aleksandar Vucic , ahead of Sunday’s election.

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Over the past two years, many citizens, teachers, professors and other experts have joined the students, a protest group that has evolved into a political movement: “Student List–Students Win” (Studentska lista–Studenti pobeđuju).

The catalyst came after the collapse of a concrete canopy at the renovated Novi Sad railway station on November 1, 2024. Sixteen people were killed in the tragedy, which triggered public outrage over alleged corruption and raised questions about construction safety, the quality of renovation work, and government oversight. Students who led protests have sought a fundamental overhaul of a system they deem rotten.

‘Serbia belongs to people, not to criminals’

Kosta Golubovic, a law student at the University of Novi Sad, has been involved since day one.

“Change is clearly necessary. The state must belong to its people, not to the mafia and criminals,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The way they treat the judiciary, the catastrophic conditions at the local level, mayors resorting to violence, dying villages – along with dubious privatisations, money laundering, the erosion of every single institution, police being replaced by thugs, and an education system vanishing before our eyes… these are some of the reasons why change is needed,” said Golubovic.

Demonstrations transformed into the biggest protest movement in Serbia in years, joined by tens of thousands.

The students have not called for the overthrow of Vucic. But their persistence created one of the biggest threats to the president’s long grip on power.

Vucic became prime minister in 2014. In 2017, he was elected president, a traditionally ceremonial role that he has bolstered by maintaining influence over his SNS party.

‘Vucic is afraid of us’

Opposition parties and rights watchdogs accuse Vucic and his SNS party of bribing voters, stifling media freedom, violence against opponents, and ties with organised crime.

Vucic and his allies deny these allegations. But Serbia’s rating on Transparency International’s global corruption index has worsened gradually in recent years.

“Vucic is clearly afraid of us – it’s obvious. He knows that, for the first time in 16 years, the SNS is no longer the most popular political option in the country,” Golubovic said.

The students’ efficiency is down in part to its structure.

The old student parliament at the University of Belgrade has been replaced with plenums – daily assemblies where each group votes on its course of action. Working groups focus on strategy, donations, and security. Universities in different cities coordinate so demands remain broadly aligned.

This is why the students say they do things differently. One rule is to be leaderless, making it harder for authorities to disrupt the protests. Also, demonstrations must be peaceful, and any debris has to be cleaned up. Third, all decisions must be made democratically during hour-long plenary sessions in their university faculties.

“Even though the authorities mobilised criminal groups against the students and citizens participating in the protests, the students have remained focused on their goal: to oust a government they view as authoritarian and deeply corrupt,” said Natasa Kandic, a Serbian peace activist, sociologist, and founder of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) in Belgrade.

“For the first time in Serbia, they have managed to lead protests entirely without violence,” she said. “The video clips we see daily represent a new culture – one defined by irony, laughter, and the deliberate disregard for primitivism and political depravity.”

‘Serious and comprehensive plan’

State-affiliated media have maligned the students. Some Serbian authorities claimed that the group has no programme, and Vucic labelled them as “terrorists”. But their leaders, experts from different fields, claim that they have a plan.

The platform is officially titled the “Student Plan” and is divided into three sections. There are 11 points.

Ilija Srdanovic, a cardiologist and the lead candidate and ballot holder for the Student List, explained that the platform deliberately avoids setting fixed, precise deadlines for the proposed changes. He argued that such timelines can only be determined once contributors have gained insight into the “full current state of affairs”.

“[We plan] many things – too many to list – but the goal is to change the system,” said Srdanovic in a brief call to Al Jazeera.

During debates, the establishment of a special prosecutorial police unit, a law on the origin of assets, transitional justice and the renovation of rural medical clinics are some frequent themes.

Could this be implemented in the case of a victory? Kandic is sceptical.

“The student movement doesn’t possess a transformative potential – the capacity to drive social change, break with the past, and alter a political climate where convicted war criminals are celebrated, Kosovo is treated as part of Serbia, and politicians from neighboring countries are branded as enemies,” he said.

塞尔维亚青年建立了一套对总统亚历山大·武契奇的权力构成威胁的体系。

2026年10月21日，学生们步行数日抵达贝尔格莱德市中心，参​​加学生运动在塞尔维亚10月25日提前大选前的最后一次大型集会，他们欢呼庆祝。[法新社]

这一切都始于街头。

在周日的选举之前，一场由学生领导的运动已成为塞尔维亚进步党（SNS）及其领导人亚历山大·武契奇长期统治的最强劲挑战者。

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塞尔维亚民粹主义领导人武契奇发起总理竞选活动（共4项，此为第3项）

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在过去的两年里，许多市民、教师、教授和其他专家加入了学生的行列，这个抗议团体已经发展成为一个政治运动：“学生名单——学生胜利”（Studentska lista–Studenti pobeđuju）。

导火索是2024年11月1日诺维萨德火车站翻新后的一个混凝土顶棚坍塌事故。这场悲剧造成16人死亡，引发了公众对涉嫌腐败的强烈愤慨，并引发了人们对建筑安全、翻新工程质量和政府监管的质疑。领导抗议的学生要求对他们认为已经腐朽的体制进行彻底改革。

“塞尔维亚属于人民，而不是罪犯。”

科斯塔·戈卢博维奇是诺维萨德大学的一名法律系学生，他从一开始就参与其中。

“变革显然是必要的。国家必须属于人民，而不是属于黑手党和犯罪分子，”他告诉半岛电视台。

“他们对待司法机构的方式、地方层面的灾难性状况、市长诉诸暴力、垂死的村庄——以及可疑的私有化、洗钱、每个机构的衰落、警察被暴徒取代、教育系统在我们眼前消失……这些都是需要变革的部分原因，”戈卢博维奇说道。

示威活动演变成塞尔维亚多年来规模最大的抗议运动，数万人参与其中。

学生们并没有呼吁推翻武契奇，但他们的坚持不懈却对总统长期掌权构成了最大的威胁之一。

武契奇于 2014 年成为总理。2017 年，他当选为总统，这是一个传统上具有象征意义的职位，但他通过维持对其所属的叙利亚进步党的影响力来巩固这一职位。

“武契奇害怕我们”

反对党和人权监督机构指责武契奇及其领导的叙利亚进步党贿赂选民、扼杀媒体自由、对反对派使用暴力以及与有组织犯罪集团勾结。

武契奇及其盟友否认了这些指控。但近年来，塞尔维亚在透明国际全球腐败指数中的排名逐渐恶化。

“武契奇显然害怕我们——这是显而易见的。他知道，16年来，塞尔维亚进步党（SNS）首次不再是该国最受欢迎的政治选择，”戈卢博维奇说道。

学生的效率部分归功于其结构。

贝尔格莱德大学原有的学生议会已被全体会议取代——每日召开的全体会议中，各小组投票决定各自的行动方针。工作小组则专注于战略、捐款和安全等议题。不同城市的大学之间相互协调，以确保诉求大致一致。

这就是学生们说他们的做法与众不同的原因。其中一条规则是：不设领导者，这样当局就更难镇压抗议活动。此外，示威活动必须和平进行，所有垃圾都必须清理干净。第三，所有决定都必须在各自大学院系举行的时长一小时的全体会议上以民主方式做出。

“尽管当局动员犯罪团伙对付参与抗议的学生和公民，但学生们仍然专注于他们的目标：推翻他们认为专制且腐败透顶的政府，”塞尔维亚和平活动家、社会学家、贝尔格莱德人道主义法律中心 (HLC) 创始人娜塔莎·坎迪奇 (Natasa Kandic) 说。

她说：“在塞尔维亚，他们第一次成功地组织了完全非暴力的抗议活动。我们每天看到的视频片段代表了一种新的文化——一种以讽刺、欢笑和对原始主义和政治堕落的刻意漠视为特征的文化。”

“严肃而全面的计划”

官方媒体对这些学生进行了诋毁。一些塞尔维亚当局声称该组织没有纲领，武契奇甚至称他们为“恐怖分子”。但他们的领导人，一群来自不同领域的专家，则声称他们有计划。

该平台正式名称为“学生计划”，分为三个部分，共包含11个要点。

心脏病专家、学生名单首席候选人兼选票持有人伊利亚·斯尔达诺维奇解释说，该平台刻意避免为拟议的改革设定固定、精确的截止日期。他认为，只有在参与者深入了解“当前情况”之后，才能确定这样的时间表。

“我们计划做很多事——多到无法一一列举——但目标是改变体制，”斯尔达诺维奇在接受半岛电视台简短电话采访时说道。

在辩论中，成立特别检察警察部队、制定资产来源法、过渡时期司法和改造农村医疗诊所等都是一些常见的议题。

如果获胜，这项措施能否实施？坎迪克对此表示怀疑。

他说：“学生运动不具备变革的潜力——推动社会变革、打破过去、改变政治氛围的能力，在这种政治氛围下，被定罪的战争罪犯受到赞扬，科索沃被视为塞尔维亚的一部分，邻国的政治家被贴上敌人的标签。”