Thousands gather at final student-led rally ahead of Serbia election

The student movement aims to end Vucic’s 14 years of rule at Sunday’s vote, as he holds a rival rally across town.

People gather in Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday for the final ‘Student List – Students Win’ rally ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary election [Petr David Josek/AP]

Tens of thousands of supporters of Serbia’s student-led opposition movement have gathered in central Belgrade for their final rally ahead of a parliamentary election in which they hope to oust veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic’s party.

The crowds filled the capital on Thursday, as Vucic held a rival rally at a sports hall across town.

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Waving “students are winning” flags and blowing whistles, the marchers converged on Slavija Square, the site of some of the movement’s biggest protests.

Sunday’s vote is seen as a chance to end Vucic’s longtime rule.

“Really, for the first time in my life, I believe that it is possible,” said Marija Nedeljkovic Radic, 47, who said young people had given her hope of “ a normal country “.

The vote follows nearly two years of student-led protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad that killed 16 people.

The Student List, a leaderless movement of student-backed candidates, is seeking to unseat Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power for more than 14 years.

It is running 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament, many of them academics or political outsiders, on a platform centred on fighting corruption.

“We are putting an end to 14 years of humiliation, chaos and betrayal, and to decades of putting personal and party interests above yours,” university professor Jugoslav Gasic, one of the candidates on the Student List, told the crowd in Belgrade, who chanted “Victory, victory!”

“You deserve better, and we know how to deliver it. Students are winning!”

The railway disaster, widely blamed on corruption , triggered some of Serbia’s largest demonstrations since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, and demands for transparency grew into calls for an early election.

Over the week, students marched for days across the country, including rural areas that are Vucic’s strongholds.

Vucic, who resigned the presidency in September to run for prime minister, called the snap election last month. He has accused the movement of being a foreign-funded coup attempt.

“Let us go out and defeat them! Defeat them decisively!” he told supporters on Thursday.

Serbia lacks reliable independent polling. But political scientist Dusan Vucicevic told the AFP news agency he expected the students to win more than 40 percent of the vote, far more than any opposition list since the SNS took power in 2012.

The Associated Press news agency reported that polls suggested a close race between the two sides, raising fears of incidents if both claim victory.

Twenty-four Serbian civil society groups warned this week that conditions for “free and fair elections” were lacking, and a monitoring group cited more than 100 violent incidents during the campaign.

On Wednesday, prosecutors questioned six people arrested on suspicion of plotting “violence, riots and attacks” on election day.

学生运动的目标是在周日的投票中结束武契奇长达14年的统治，与此同时，武契奇在城另一边举行了一场针锋相对的集会。

周四，人们聚集在塞尔维亚首都贝尔格莱德，参加周日议会选举前的最后一次“学生名单——学生胜利”集会。[Petr David Josek/AP]

数万名塞尔维亚学生领导的反对派运动的支持者聚集在贝尔格莱德市中心，举行议会选举前的最后一次集会，他们希望在这次选举中推翻资深领导人亚历山大·武契奇的政党。

周四，首都挤满了人群，与此同时，武契奇在城另一边的体育馆举行了一场针锋相对的集会。

塞尔维亚提前举行大选（共 3 项）：武契奇能否智胜学生运动？

塞尔维亚总统亚历山大·武契奇在持续抗议中辞职（共3条，此为第2条）

列表 3/3 学生抗议活动震撼瓦列沃一年后：塞尔维亚正处于十字路口

游行队伍挥舞着“学生正在胜利”的旗帜，吹着哨子，聚集在斯拉维亚广场，这里曾是该运动一些最大规模抗议活动的发生地。

周日的投票被视为结束武契奇长期统治的机会。

“真的，我这辈子第一次相信这是有可能的，”47岁的玛丽亚·内德尔科维奇·拉迪奇说道，她表示年轻人让她看到了“一个正常国家的希望”。

此次投票是在学生领导的抗议活动持续近两年之后进行的。抗议活动是由2024年诺维萨德一座新翻修的火车站的顶棚坍塌引发的，那次坍塌造成16人死亡。

学生名单是一个由学生支持的候选人组成的无领导运动，旨在推翻武契奇领导的右翼民粹主义塞尔维亚进步党（SNS），该党已执政超过14年。

该党派派出 250 名候选人角逐 250 个议席的议会，其中许多候选人是学者或政治圈外人士，其竞选纲领的核心是打击腐败。

“我们要结束14年的屈辱、混乱和背叛，结束几十年来将个人和党派利益置于你们利益之上的做法，”大学教授、学生名单候选人之一尤戈斯拉夫·加西奇在贝尔格莱德向人群说道，人群高呼“胜利！胜利！”

“你们值得更好的，我们知道如何提供更好的。学生们正在取得胜利！”

这场铁路灾难被广泛归咎于腐败，引发了自 2000 年斯洛博丹·米洛舍维奇下台以来塞尔维亚规模最大的示威活动，要求透明度的呼声逐渐演变为要求提前举行选举的呼声。

过去一周，学生们在全国各地举行了数天的游行，其中包括武契奇的票仓——农村地区。

武契奇于去年9月辞去总统职务，竞选总理，并于上个月宣布提前举行大选。他指责此次选举运动是一场由外国势力资助的政变企图。

“让我们出去打败他们！彻底打败他们！”他周四对支持者们说。

塞尔维亚缺乏可靠的独立民调。但政治学家杜尚·武契切维奇告诉法新社，他预计学生候选人将赢得超过40%的选票，远远超过自塞尔维亚进步党2012年执政以来任何反对派候选人的得票率。

美联社报道称，民调显示双方选情胶着，如果双方都宣布获胜，可能会引发冲突。

本周，24个塞尔维亚民间社会团体发出警告，称“自由公正的选举”缺乏条件；一个监督组织指出，竞选期间发生了100多起暴力事件。

周三，检察官讯问了六名因涉嫌策划在选举日实施“暴力、骚乱和袭击”而被捕的人。