November 1, 2024, 11:52 AM. At the Novi Sad railway station, reopened just a few months prior following renovations, the concrete canopy above the entrance collapses. Sixteen people die.
October 25, 2026, shortly after nine-thirty in the evening. Aleksandar Vučić, who has been at the center of Serbian politics for fourteen years, goes on television and admits: "It is clear that we have lost this election." In between lie nearly two years of mobilization and a generation that took a worn-out political cliché literally. Make way for the youth. As it turns out, Serbian students cleared that way themselves.
Sixteen minutes, every day
At the beginning, there was a simple question: who is responsible for that collapse? Around this question grew a broader accusation—that of a power structure in which corruption in public works is paid for with human lives. Students occupied university departments and blocked roads. For months, in many cities, traffic came to a halt at 11:52 AM for sixteen minutes, one for each victim. It was a ritual that could be repeated anywhere, without the need for a stage.
The same approach applied inside the universities. Decisions were made in assemblies—open gatherings where everyone voted together and no one spoke on behalf of others. There were no designated spokespeople or party cards. For a political movement, it is an inconvenient choice, as negotiating is harder without a recognizable face. However, delegitimizing it is also much tougher, because there is no leader to target.
From the square to the ballot paper
The decisive shift was turning the protest into a candidacy. That is how the Student List was born, backed by the university assemblies. Most opposition parties chose to step aside and clear the field for them. In September, Vučić called a snap election, more than a year ahead of the parliamentary term's scheduled expiration in December 2027.
The result was far more decisive than polls had suggested. The only survey published in October, conducted by the NSPM think tank, gave the students a lead of less than two percentage points. Instead, partial data from the Electoral Commission, with nearly all polling stations counted, awards the Student List roughly 52 percent of the vote, compared to 39 percent for Vučić's coalition, United Serbia. According to CeSID-Ipsos projections, the students are set to win 141 out of 250 seats—fifteen more than the 126 needed for a majority. No other list crossed the threshold, aside from national minority parties. Voter turnout reached its highest level since Serbia became an independent state.
Vučić accused the students of running an "unfair campaign filled with lies" and announced he would lead the fight from the opposition. In the preceding months, he had framed the movement as a foreign-orchestrated attempt to overthrow him. Ilija Srdanović, head of the Student List, declared that Serbia had won that night and expressed pride in the people who stood up against tyranny.
The night at Slavija
In Belgrade, celebrations centered around Slavija, the massive roundabout south of the city center, and spilled along the streets leading to the National Assembly. In photos circulating across social media, those celebrating are almost exclusively in their early twenties. Two young men in suits and ties are perched on a traffic light outside Parliament, holding a flag. A couple embraces on a rooftop above a crowd filling the square all the way to the surrounding buildings. On the Student List’s social profiles, a single phrase appeared: "Serbia is free."
Those photographs work because they flip a familiar iconography. For years, the images of Serbia arriving in Europe were of demonstrations, police lines, and tear gas—a generation protesting against something. On October 25, that same generation appeared on the winning side. The faces, the flags, and the squares were identical, but the action had changed.
A method before a platform
In European political debate, youth engagement is usually measured by voter turnout, party membership rates, and trust in institutions. The Serbian case reflects a different path. First comes a concrete, local issue, then a ritual that anyone can replicate, followed by a horizontal organizational structure. The ballot box comes only at the very end. The Student List ran with zero governing experience against a politician who had held power for over a decade. They won anyway.
International reactions arrived within hours. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated the List, citing the record turnout and promising support for reforms focused on the rule of law, media freedom, and the fight against corruption.
The day after
Saturday, November 1, marks the second anniversary of Novi Sad. For the first time, it arrives as those who demanded justice for the sixteen victims prepare to form a government. It remains to be seen what happens to a movement born without hierarchies when it must take charge of ministries, sign executive decrees, and select its leaders. Will it manage to govern using the same methods it used to protest?
