Serbia’s student movement has formally entered the election race by submitting its “Student List – Students Win” to the Republic Electoral Commission. Thousands of supporters marched through central Belgrade to the commission’s headquarters, carrying boxes of signatures collected to qualify the list for the ballot.
The movement grew out of protests following the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people. Students have demanded accountability and accused the authorities of failing to tackle corruption connected with the station’s renovation.
Demonstrations have at times drawn hundreds of thousands of people, putting President Aleksandar Vučić under his strongest political pressure since he took office in 2012. The movement’s decision to contest the election turns a protest campaign into a direct challenge to the governing Serbian Progressive Party.
The student-backed list features professors, teachers, experts, former athletes and other relatively little-known candidates. Its lead name is doctor Ilija Srđanović. Other figures listed include former basketball player Dejan Bodiroga, former central bank governor Dejan Šoškić, musician Feđa Dimović, athlete Mihal Dudaš and philosophy professor Aleksandar Baucal.
Vučić has said he will step down as president and seek the premiership if his party wins. He announced on 8 September that parliament would be dissolved and an early election held on 25 October, adding that he would resign on 27 September to lead the Serbian Progressive Party campaign.
The ruling party has nominated Vučić as its candidate for prime minister and placed him at the top of its “Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia” list. The student movement’s submission now gives voters a distinct electoral option built around the demands that have driven the protests.