Student List rallies in Belgrade as Serbia heads to polls Sunday

Thousands of supporters gathered in Belgrade on Thursday evening for the final campaign rally of the Student List, a candidate group formed by a student movement that has protested the government for nearly two years. Many attendees had walked for days from various regions to the capital to mark the occasion. The event concluded with a kolo, a traditional circle dance.

Arsa Stojanovic, a biology student, addressed the crowd about the walkers' journey. He noted that they had traveled from one end of Serbia to the other, visiting villages and neighborhoods. Stojanovic said the group learned they could count on the people. Aleksandar Cupic, a professor of transport and traffic engineering and a Student List candidate, told the assembly that it "smells like freedom."

Serbia will hold a parliamentary election on Sunday. The vote is the first potentially competitive one since Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) took power in 2012. Political scientist Dusan Spasojevic described the polls as having an uncertain outcome. He cited polling data suggesting the Student List could secure more than 40 percent of the vote.

The movement emerged after a concrete canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station in November 2024. That disaster killed 16 people and became a symbol of institutional failure. The students frame the election as an opportunity to address corruption and demand accountability. They have sought to bridge ideological, social, and foreign-policy divisions that have historically defined Serbian politics.

The SNS held its own closing rally a few kilometers away. The party emphasized stability, continuity, and prosperity as reasons to vote for incumbency. It portrayed a change in government as a risk of chaos. Former President Vucic accused opponents of acting on foreign orders. He claimed they had attacked the party with billions of euros.

The campaign period was marked by frequent disputes. The independent monitoring group CRTA recorded 116 incidents of physical violence or verbal threats in the final week. These included physical confrontations and attempts to seize campaign banners. CRTA reported that opposition activists faced surveillance and police questioning. The group stated that police were often slow to protect opposition candidates.

CRTA assessed that the campaign was neither free nor fair. It found that government representatives received nearly three-quarters of political airtime on national television. More than 80 percent of coverage regarding the Student List was negative. The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network published testimony from a former SNS member describing pressure on public-sector employees to deliver votes. Anonymous sources told Deutsche Welle that voters were offered between €30 and €150, or family holiday packages, to support the SNS.

Authorities have warned of potential street violence, alleging that students are aided by foreign intelligence services. Several individuals have been arrested on suspicion of plotting disturbances for election night. Spasojevic said a decisive victory for either side would be best. He noted that polls point to a narrow margin, which could trigger a post-election crisis. He added that a narrow SNS victory would likely be contested, as the movement has vowed to defend every vote.

An EU Commission spokesperson stated that key recommendations on Serbia's electoral framework remain unimplemented. The spokesperson stressed that democracy and the rule of law are central to the accession process. Serbia has held candidate country status with the European Union since 2012. Spasojevic said the international response could help prevent escalation and persuade authorities to accept defeat without a heavy-handed response to protests.