The victory of the student-backed list in Serbia’s parliamentary elections is more than an electoral result. After nearly two years of protests sparked by the tragedy in Novi Sad, Serbian citizens have demonstrated that political power is not permanent. Aleksandar Vučić, who dominated the country’s political landscape for more than a decade, has acknowledged electoral defeat.
Yet the change of regime is only the beginning. The real test will be whether the system itself changes through independent institutions, the rule of law, the fight against corruption, confronting the past, and equal rights for all citizens.
The most important question is not simply who will govern Serbia, but whether the way Serbia is governed will fundamentally change.
According to preliminary results released by Serbia’s Republic Electoral Commission on October 26, 2026, the student-backed list won 52.71 percent of the vote and 140 parliamentary seats, while the “Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia” list received 39.17 percent and 104 seats.
But what has happened in Serbia carries significance far beyond the defeat of one political leader or the victory of a single electoral list.
These elections have demonstrated that long-standing political dominance, powerful party organizations, and influence over state institutions do not guarantee that those in power can remain there indefinitely.
Students Who Refused to Give Up Despite Violence and Pressure
The student movement did not emerge overnight. Its strength developed over many months through protests, public demonstrations, and demands for accountability following the tragedy in Novi Sad in November 2024, when the collapse of a railway station canopy claimed 16 lives.
Throughout the protests, students faced arrests, violence, intimidation, and various forms of pressure. Human rights organizations documented excessive police force, unlawful surveillance, and attacks on demonstrators.
At the same time, the student movement faced attempts to discredit it, accusations of acting against the state, and political efforts to undermine its significance.
During the demonstrations, allegations also emerged concerning deliberate provocations and the infiltration of individuals whose purpose was to incite incidents or compromise the protests. Such allegations require independent investigation, particularly when responsibility is attributed to government representatives.
Vučić’s long-standing political dominance rested, among other things, on a powerful party organization, control over political narratives, and extensive influence over the public sphere. The protests posed a serious challenge to this model of governance.
Nevertheless, the students refused to give up. Despite the pressure, they sustained their movement, expanded public support, and transformed the energy of the protests into organized political action.
This is one of the most important messages of their victory: persistent citizens can overcome even political structures that have appeared invincible for years.
What began as a demand for accountability developed into a much broader movement seeking to transform the way the state functions.
Unity Beyond Political and Ethnic Divisions
One of the most significant achievements of the student movement has been its ability to bring together people of different generations, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and political beliefs around a common goal.
In a society where ethnic issues have served for decades as one of the primary instruments of political mobilization, the student movement has opened the door to a different kind of solidarity.
The support students received from members of national minority communities also demonstrates that citizens can recognize shared interests in justice, institutional accountability, and the fight against corruption.
The question of political representation among Bosniaks in the Sandžak region is particularly noteworthy. Traditional political parties have played a significant role there for years, while some of their leaders cooperated with Vučić’s government.
Although certain minority lists won parliamentary seats, support for the student movement among members of minority communities raises an important question: Does sharing the same ethnic identity as a political representative necessarily guarantee that the representative will defend the interests of the people?
Citizens have the right to expect integrity, accountability, and a commitment to fighting corruption from their representatives, regardless of ethnic background.
Nationalism has too often been used as a tool to divert attention from corruption, poverty, abuses of power, and dysfunctional institutions.
When citizens are divided along ethnic or religious lines, questions concerning political accountability, public funds, and judicial independence are frequently pushed into the background.
This is precisely why the student movement offers the possibility of a different political culture, one in which people choose their representatives not merely according to ethnic identity, but according to their accountability, integrity, and willingness to serve the public interest.
This is an especially important message for a society that has long been burdened by divisions.
Changing the Government Is Not Enough Without Confronting the Past
There is another dimension of this political turning point that should not be overlooked: Serbia’s relationship with the wars of the 1990s, nationalism, and war crimes established by final court judgments.
Aleksandar Vučić began his political career in the Serbian Radical Party, during a period when radical nationalism and wartime rhetoric strongly shaped Serbia’s political life.
Although he later changed his political course, the question of how Serbia confronts this historical legacy has never lost its importance.
For years, Serbia has witnessed public expressions of admiration for individuals convicted of the gravest war crimes.
Ratko Mladić, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, has continued to be portrayed as a hero by segments of society. Murals depicting him have appeared in public spaces, while attempts to remove them have sparked confrontations and reactions from nationalist groups.
These developments are not merely questions of the past. They reflect a system of values that can be passed down to new generations.
This is why genuine democratic change must also involve a different relationship with historical facts.
Serbia must find the strength to clearly acknowledge responsibility for crimes committed during the wars of the 1990s, consistently respect the judgments of international courts, and stop tolerating the glorification of convicted war criminals.
A public apology to victims and the peoples of neighboring countries, accompanied by an acknowledgment of their suffering, would represent an important moral and political step toward rebuilding trust across the region.
But such an apology must not remain merely words. It must be accompanied by education grounded in historical facts, respect for judicial rulings, protection of victims’ rights, and a responsible approach to the past.
Of course, responsibility for war crimes is individual and cannot be attributed to an entire nation. However, both the state and society have a responsibility to confront established crimes truthfully and to reject their justification or glorification.
A genuine transformation of the system of values would mean that nationalism no longer serves as an instrument of political manipulation and that relations with other nations are built not on hostility, but on mutual respect.
Without an Independent Judiciary, There Is No Rule of Law
One of the greatest challenges facing Serbia’s future leaders will be building institutions that do not depend on the political will of individuals.
For years, Serbia has struggled with serious problems involving corruption, political influence over the judiciary, and insufficient institutional accountability.
The European Commission has repeatedly warned about significant political pressure on judges and prosecutors, as well as shortcomings in the fight against corruption.
This is precisely why a change of government cannot, by itself, mark the end of the struggle.
Without an independent judiciary, there can be no genuine rule of law.
If court decisions do not apply equally to everyone, if politicians can place themselves above the law, and if institutions are used to protect the privileged, then an electoral victory does not amount to genuine systemic change.
Courts must be independent, prosecutors must be free from political pressure, and the law must apply equally to every citizen.
It is particularly important that judicial independence not be reduced merely to removing the influence of the previous government. Instead, a system must be established in which no future government can control judges or prosecutors.
The state must not depend on who holds political power. Its strength must rest on institutions that function regardless of changes in government.
This is the fundamental difference between replacing one political leadership with another and achieving genuine democratic reform.
The Hardest Test Is Yet to Come: Will the Revolution Betray Its Own Children?
The electoral victory of the student-backed list has brought enormous hope, but also enormous responsibility.
The expectations of those who spent months protesting, endured violence, faced arrest, supported the students, and believed in change must not be betrayed.
History offers many examples of revolutions that ultimately disappointed the very people who initiated them.
That is why it is now essential that the student movement, if it assumes responsibility for governing the country, does not repeat the patterns of political behavior against which it fought.
The students gained the support of citizens who were not simply demanding new faces on the political stage. Many were hoping for a different state, different institutions, and a fundamentally different relationship between government and citizens.
This requires transparency, the fight against corruption, media freedom, judicial independence, and genuine equality for all citizens.
There is a particular responsibility toward national minorities. Serbia must become a country in which Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, Hungarians, Roma, and all others enjoy equal rights, equal protection under the law, and equal opportunities to participate in social and political life.
No community should face discrimination, nor should ethnic identity be used as a bargaining tool in political deals.
The student movement has demonstrated that people of different identities can find common ground when justice, accountability, and human dignity become more important than political divisions.
But these principles must now be translated into laws, institutions, and everyday practice.
The real question is no longer simply who will govern Serbia, but what kind of Serbia they will govern and whether they will have the courage to change the very system they criticized for years.
A revolution that replaces politicians while preserving corruption, injustice, nationalism, and a politically dependent judiciary has not achieved its most important goal.
More Than an Electoral Victory
The victory of the student-backed list can be viewed as a form of democratic revolution — not a revolution of violence, but one of civic awareness, solidarity, and political organization.
It has demonstrated that protests need not remain merely an expression of dissatisfaction. They can develop into a political movement capable of changing the balance of power within a country.
It has also shown that long-standing political power is not invincible, that political and ethnic divisions are not insurmountable, and that citizens can unite around shared values.
But the greatest success of the student movement will not be measured solely by the number of votes or parliamentary seats it has won.
It will be measured by whether Serbia becomes a country where institutions are stronger than politicians, court rulings are respected, corruption is punished, war crimes are neither justified nor glorified, and every citizen enjoys equal rights.
This political turning point carries a message that extends far beyond Serbia’s borders: persistence, solidarity, and civic responsibility can open the way to changes that once seemed impossible.
The students have shown that governments can be changed. Now comes the far more difficult task, proving that the way a country is governed can change as well.
Because the greatest victory is not simply removing one government from power.
The greatest victory would be building a system in which no government can consider itself irreplaceable, no politician can place themselves above the law, and no citizen is treated as less worthy than another.
Aziza Smailovic