The 14-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party and its leader Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia has ended. In the snap parliamentary elections held on October 25, the ruling party suffered a heavy defeat.
The new political force – the “Student List” movement – which has held protests in various regions of Serbia for two years, will form the government in the country.
Modern.az reports that although A. Vučić, who had led the country for a long time, prematurely ended his presidential powers hoping to become prime minister, his plan did not materialize.
He expected to become prime minister after the snap elections.
Now Aleksandar Vučić can only hope that his candidate wins the presidential elections to be held by the end of the year. But this also does not seem realistic.
Vučić admitted his defeat: “We lost the election”
On the evening of October 25, about an hour and a half after the polling stations closed, Aleksandar Vučić appeared before journalists at the headquarters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and made an unexpected statement.
“We lost the election. The “Student List” won. They will have 135–140 seats in parliament. The Serbian parliament has a total of 250 seats. We will get approximately 105 seats. 1.7 million voters voted for us, and approximately 2.2 million for the students,” Vučić said.
Aleksandar Vučić explained the reason for the defeat as follows: “This is the result of a revolution organized with the support of various European states and the deep state of America.”
The former president also announced another important result of the vote. With the exception of a few representatives of national minorities, only the Serbian Progressive Party and the “Student List” enter parliament. None of the other political forces managed to cross the 3 percent election barrier.
One of the main factors influencing the result in Sunday's elections was the record voter turnout. While voter turnout never reached 60 percent in previous elections, this time the figure significantly exceeded 70 percent.
On election day, long queues formed in front of polling stations throughout Serbia, especially in the capital Belgrade. People sometimes had to wait in line for more than an hour. The queues at polling stations abroad were even longer.
A new era begins in the country
Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist and professor of medicine who led the election list of the “Student List” movement, announced the beginning of a new era in the country.
“There will never be tyranny in our country again,” he said.
Soon the festive mood spread to the streets. Victory celebrations continued until Monday morning with car horns, fireworks, and firecrackers.
Congratulations to students from Brussels
Among the first to congratulate the “Student List” on their victory were the head of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
They stated that Brussels is ready to help Serbia move towards European Union membership.
However, the leaders of Serbian students focused mainly on solving the country's internal problems. They refrained from expressing a concrete position on the issue of European integration.
The “Student List” announced that Serbia would maintain its principled position of not imposing sanctions against Russia.
Who is Ilija Srdanović?
Cardiologist and professor at the Faculty of Medicine of Novi Sad University, Ilija Srdanović, was ranked first on the students' election list.
It should be noted that the “Student List” consists not of students, but of teachers, professors, doctors, cultural figures, athletes, and other non-political figures chosen by them.
Ilija Srdanović rose to the first position after the last changes were made to the list of student candidates. That list was submitted to the Republican Election Commission on Monday, September 14.
Ilija Srdanović supported the student protests from day one. Student protests in Serbia began in November 2024.
Ilija Srdanović was born in Novi Sad in 1970. He later received his higher education at Novi Sad University, completed his specialization, and defended his doctoral dissertation in 2012. Before that, he obtained a master's degree in Belgrade.
Srdanović, a specialist in internal diseases, has been teaching at the Department of Emergency Medical Aid at the Faculty of Medicine of Novi Sad University since 2018. He has been working as a professor since last year.
He has also been working at the Vojvodina Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Sremska Kamenica since 1997.
A. Gorkhmaz
