Serbia’s student-backed slate has 90 days from parliament’s convening to form a government, with a year-end budget deadline adding urgency as it sets policy after the election.
Former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat late Sunday after the Oct. 25 election, Reuters reported. The slate holds a comfortable parliamentary majority, but the movement has no single leader and none of its candidates is guaranteed a cabinet position, Reuters said.
The movement emerged after a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad in 2024, killing 16 people and prompting protests demanding accountability and action against corruption, Reuters reported. Its 250 candidates came from fields including universities, law, medicine, farming and the arts. The slate has called for institutional changes to address corruption.
Its candidates also support a referendum on Serbia’s accession to the European Union while maintaining the country’s non-recognition of Kosovo, Reuters reported. The next government’s decisions will affect ties with China and Russia, as well as the EU, Serbia’s largest trading partner, Reuters said. Student List representative Jovo Bakic told RT Balkan that Serbia’s Russia policy would remain unchanged, including its refusal to sanction Moscow, Reuters reported. Russia remains a longtime partner and Serbia’s leading natural gas supplier.
The slate’s ability to agree on policy and govern cohesively remains uncertain, Reuters reported. The news agency cited a Monday assessment from Teneo Global Research that bureaucratic resistance and limited governing experience could complicate the transition. Bozo Prelevic, a Belgrade lawyer and former co-minister of the interior, said substantial changes to public institutions would be needed and the Serbian Progressive Party would be a formidable opposition. Vucic and his party have rejected claims that they used repression or engaged in corruption, Reuters said.
Under Serbia’s constitutional timetable, final results from the State Election Commission are announced before parliament convenes; the 90-day window to form a government starts when the assembly meets, Reuters reported. The incoming administration also faces a year-end budget deadline as public and private debt levels rise, the news agency said.
