Serbia’s 'leaderless' student movement won the election. Now it must choose a leader

A cardiologist, a former central bank governor, a celebrated basketball star and a group of academics, artists and activists now find themselves at the centre of Serbia’s political future.

They belong to the Student List, the unlikely electoral force that defeated the ruling camp of Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s long-time president who has dominated the country’s politics since 2014, after nearly two years of protests.

While the movement secured a parliamentary majority, it left one of the biggest questions unanswered, who will lead the next government?


The list, which avoided placing one politician above the others, brought together 250 candidates from different professions and backgrounds.

The Student List secured around 2.2 million votes, beating Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which polled about 1.7 million in the election to Serbia’s 250-member parliament.

The result sent crowds into the streets of Belgrade on Sunday night.

Supporters celebrated with flares, balloons and chants of “victory” and “he’s done”, marking the end of Vucic’s more than decade-long dominance of Serbian politics.

At the students’ headquarters, Radomir Sajcic, a professor at Belgrade University, addressed supporters on behalf of the movement.

“Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard,” he said. “Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future.”

The celebration, however, quickly gave way to a more practical question. The movement had spent months deciding what needed to change in Serbia. It now had to decide who would be responsible for making those changes.

The faces behind the Student List

Ilija Srdanovic, a practising cardiologist and professor at the University of Novi Sad Faculty of Medicine, headed the electoral list and emerged as one of its most visible figures.

He did not rule himself out of the race for prime minister, but stressed that the movement had several candidates for every government position.

Dejan Soskic, an economist and professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Economics, served as governor of the central bank from 2010 to 2012, was another prominent name. His experience in public office and criticism of corruption gave him a profile distinct from that of the student organisers who built the movement.

Soskic has called for investigations into the property holdings of public officials and changes to the administration, while also advocating reforms linked to Serbia’s European Union membership. He has criticised Western sanctions against Russia, reflecting the range of views represented within the winning group.

Dejan Bodiroga, the former Yugoslav basketball star who now heads EuroLeague Basketball, was another among the list’s best-known public figures. His political positions were less clearly defined, although he had criticised the government’s treatment of student protesters and called for greater dignity, justice and social solidarity.

Radomir Saicic, an organic chemistry professor and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, is also among the public faces of the students’ election victory, calling it a “citizens’ victory”. During the campaign, he said Serbia was “occupied from within” and offered to put “even his life” at the movement’s disposal.

Other candidates brought experience from academia, culture and grassroots activism. Actor Tihomir Stanic had challenged political interference in cultural institutions, while engineer Zoran Djajic had raised concerns about construction work at the Novi Sad railway station before the deadly collapse that triggered the protests.

The list also included cultural heritage expert Estela Radonjic Zivkov, who had criticised the government over its handling of a proposed Trump-branded hotel project at Belgrade’s former General Staff building.

Together, the candidates represented a coalition built around demands for accountability rather than a single political ideology.

That breadth helped the movement draw support from different sections of society, but it also left the question of leadership unresolved.

Who will become Serbia’s next prime minister?

The Student List has yet to name its prime ministerial candidate or announce its cabinet, leaving the question of who will lead Serbia’s next government open. Srdanovic, who heads the candidate list, is among the prominent figures whose role in the incoming administration remains to be decided.

The arrangement reflected the movement’s origins in student assemblies, or plenums, where participants debated proposals and reached decisions collectively. Students selected the candidates through this process, while the movement’s wider programme was developed with input from experts.

Ana Mirkovic, an educationist, psychologist and candidate on the list, said its members understood the responsibility that came with the victory. She told The Guardian that the result represented an obligation to the country and future generations, rather than an opportunity to acquire power and privileges.

The approach also presented a challenge. A government needed ministers with clearly defined responsibilities and a prime minister able to coordinate policy, manage disagreements and respond to crises.

Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Belgrade-based Centre for Contemporary Politics, told The Guardian that the movement’s decision-making process would need to become faster. Selecting candidates had already taken months, he said, and forming a government would require the group to settle its choices more quickly.

From a railway disaster to a parliamentary majority

The student movement’s rise began with the November 2024 collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad that killed 16 people, triggering protests over accountability and corruption.

What started with demands for transparency over the disaster grew into a nationwide challenge to Aleksandar Vucic. By May 2025, students were calling for early elections, turning their campaign for institutional reform into a bid for power that has now delivered a parliamentary majority.

The deadlines

Serbia’s constitution requires the new parliament to convene within 30 days of the official election result. The incoming lawmakers then have 90 days from parliament’s first sitting to form a government.

The timetable puts pressure on the Student List to settle its leadership and cabinet choices while preparing a budget before the end of the year. The country also faces rising public and private debt, adding to the demands on the incoming administration.

(With inputs from Reuters)