Serbia votes in election pitting longtime leader against student movement

Polls show populist leader Aleksandar Vucic in a tight race against the anticorruption and anti-authoritarian movement.

A man holds a Serbian flag as people gather for the final Student List rally in Belgrade, Serbia, on October 22, 2026, ahead of parliamentary elections [Marko Drobnjakovic/AP]

Serbians are voting in parliamentary elections amid a mass student protest ⁠movement that seeks to oust longtime populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, who has held power as prime minister and then president for more than a decade.

The snap elections, called by Vucic in September, follow almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption ⁠and creeping authoritarianism, triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.

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The students have since gained widespread support.

A loss for Vucic ⁠would mark a profound political shift in the Balkan country of some 6 million people, reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban in April.

But Vucic, who resigned as president in September to run again for prime minister, is a strong incumbent. Many voters thank him for pulling Serbia out of economic obscurity and ‌orchestrating a period of sustained modernisation.

“The Serbian election ⁠is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country as the Student List mounts the biggest challenge against Vucic yet,” Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told the Reuters news agency.

During the campaign, Vucic has promised higher pensions and public sector salaries, investment in state healthcare, and subsidies for young couples. He has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union.

But relations with the EU have frayed under his leadership, with the bloc growing increasingly frustrated over a lack of reforms addressing the judiciary, the rule of law and corruption.

The Student List movement’s agenda focuses on rooting out corruption and improving schooling, while saying little about their international ambitions.

Their roster of 250 largely unfamiliar candidates, including university professors, actors and farmers, is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic.

Supporters wave a flag showing Serbia’s populist leader Aleksandar Vucic during a pre-election rally of the governing Serbian Progressive Party in Novi Sad, Serbia, on October 16, 2026, ahead of parliamentary elections [Darko Vojinovic/AP]

Opinion polls are predicting a tight race.

An Ipsos poll published on Thursday gives Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party 47 percent ⁠of the vote to the students’ 40 percent, though other polls have put the students ahead.

Rights groups and activists say repression has worsened since the deadly train station canopy collapse, which was widely blamed on government corruption and sparked the student demonstrations.

About 150,000 supporters of the student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday.

Vucic and his party have repeatedly denied accusations of repression, corruption and spying on their opponents.

The former president claims the students are funded by foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro, a charge the students deny.

民调显示，民粹主义领导人亚历山大·武契奇与反腐败和反威权运动之间的竞争异常激烈。

2026年10月22日，在塞尔维亚贝尔格莱德，一名男子手持塞尔维亚国旗，人们聚集在一起参加学生名单党的最后一次集会，为即将到来的议会选举做准备。[Marko Drobnjakovic/AP]

塞尔维亚正在进行议会选举，与此同时，大规模的学生抗议运动也在进行，旨在推翻长期执政的民粹主义领导人亚历山大·武契奇，他曾担任总理和总统十多年。

武契奇在 9 月份宣布提前举行大选，此前近两年来，学生领导的示威活动一直在抗议他们认为的腐败和日益严重的威权主义。这场示威活动是由 2024 年诺维萨德市火车站顶棚倒塌造成 16 人死亡引发的。

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此后，这些学生获得了广泛的支持。

武契奇的失败将标志着这个拥有约 600 万人口的巴尔干国家发生深刻的政治转变，让人想起匈牙利维克托·欧尔班在 4 月份的失败。

但武契奇在9月辞去总统职务，再次竞选总理，他是一位实力强劲的现任领导人。许多选民感谢他带领塞尔维亚摆脱了经济困境，并主导了一段持续的现代化时期。

“塞尔维亚大选正逐渐成为该国的一个分水岭时刻，因为学生名单党对武契奇发起了迄今为止最大的挑战，”风险咨询公司 Verisk Maplecroft 的高级欧洲分析师马里奥·比卡尔斯基告诉路透社。

在竞选期间，武契奇承诺提高养老金和公共部门工资，加大对国家医疗保健的投入，并为年轻夫妇提供补贴。他力求在加强与主要投资国中国以及塞尔维亚传统盟友和主要天然气供应国俄罗斯的关系之间取得平衡，同时又对加入欧盟持开放态度。

但在他的领导下，与欧盟的关系日益紧张，欧盟对缺乏司法、法治和腐败方面的改革越来越感到失望。

学生名单运动的议程侧重于根除腐败和改善教育，而对其国际抱负却鲜有提及。

他们的候选人名单共有 250 名，其中大部分人都不为人知，包括大学教授、演员和农民，由心脏病专家伊利亚·斯尔达诺维奇 (Ilija Srdanovic) 领导。

2026年10月16日，在塞尔维亚诺维萨德，塞尔维亚执政党进步党举行选前集会，支持者挥舞着印有塞尔维亚民粹主义领导人亚历山大·武契奇头像的旗帜。当时正值议会选举前夕。[Darko Vojinovic/AP]

民意调查预测选情胶着。

益普索周四公布的民调显示，武契奇的塞尔维亚进步党获得 47% 的选票，学生党获得 40% 的选票，但其他民调显示学生党领先。

人权组织和活动人士表示，自造成致命的火车站顶棚坍塌事故发生以来，镇压愈演愈烈。该事故被广泛归咎于政府腐败，并引发了学生示威活动。

周四，约15万名学生运动的支持者在贝尔格莱德市中心举行集会。

武契奇及其政党一再否认有关镇压、腐败和监视反对派的指控。

这位前总统声称这些学生是由克罗地亚和黑山的外国代理人资助的，但学生们否认了这一指控。