Serbia’s student-backed opposition used its final major rally before Sunday’s parliamentary vote to challenge the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, which has governed for more than 14 years.
The Student List, a leaderless student-backed slate, is fielding 250 candidates for all 250 seats. Its campaign makes anti-corruption a central promise, and the lineup includes academics and people from outside party politics, Agence France-Presse (AFP) and The Associated Press (AP) reported.
Public anger after a canopy at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed in 2024, killing 16, gave rise to the protests. AFP and AP said corruption was widely blamed for the disaster, and that calls for transparency broadened into demands for an early vote. They described the demonstrations as among Serbia’s largest since Slobodan Milosevic fell from power in 2000.
At the movement’s Thursday closing rally, supporters gathered around Slavija Square in Belgrade as former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic held an event at a sports hall across town, AFP and AP reported. EconoTimes previously reported contrasting estimates of attendance at the Belgrade rally.
Former Serbian President Vucic stepped down in September to seek the prime minister’s post and called the early election last month, AFP and AP reported. He has alleged that the student movement is a coup effort financed from abroad.
AFP quoted political scientist Dusan Vucicevic as expecting the student slate to win more than 40% of the vote. The Associated Press reported that polls suggested a close contest, while Serbia has no reliable independent polling.
Twenty-four Serbian civil society groups said this week that conditions were insufficient for a free and fair election, AFP and AP reported. AFP and AP also reported a monitoring group’s figure of more than 100 episodes of campaign violence. On Wednesday, prosecutors questioned six people arrested over suspected plans for election-day violence and riots.
The parliamentary election is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 25.
