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塞爾維亞學生抗爭 -- Paul Kirby
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請參考：
* Will Serbia’s Vote End the Vučić Era? (10/16)
* Embattled Serbian president resigns, paving way for early elections (09/27)
* Serbia
塞爾維亞10/25舉行國會選舉。
Why a student protest movement is challenging 12 years of Vučić rule in Serbia
Paul Kirby, Europe digital editor, 10/23/26
Final campaign rallies have taken place across Serbia, ahead of a snap election billed as a referendum on the country's future.
After two years of student protests, Serbians vote for a new parliament on Sunday in elections that threaten populist leader Aleksandar Vučić's 12 years in power.
The main threat to Vučić's dominance in Serbian politics comes from a two-year-old student movement, but there are concerns surrounding the fairness of the vote.
Why is this student movement so important?
They have no obvious leaders and are not used to politics, but the "Student List-Students Win" movement has attracted anti-government voters across Serbia.
The Student List is fielding candidates from across Serbian society - and as he joined students marching towards Belgrade, lead candidate and cardiologist Ilija Srdanović said history was being rewritten: "The energy is unstoppable."
It all began on 1 November 2024, when the concrete canopy collapsed outside Novi Sad train station, in Serbia's second biggest city, killing 16 people.
The tragedy was seen as emblematic of corruption and negligence in Serbia. Critics linked the station's fatally flawed renovation to a president who had closely associated himself with the project.
What started as weekly student protests demanding justice on university campuses and city streets soon became a national movement, often at a local level, that encompassed far more sections of Serbian society, including farmers, actors and judges.
The Serbian Progressive party (SNS), founded by Vučić, was shaken and within weeks the prime minister resigned. Belgrade saw one of its biggest ever protests in March 2025, and while the leaderless student movement increased in strength, they organised themselves through student assemblies or plenums.
At the last election in 2023, Vučić's SNS was challenged by a loose coalition of pro-EU parties, that later fell apart. This time he faces a far clearer threat from a student movement that has shunned the mainstream opposition parties.
Anger lingers in Serbia after train station tragedy
Who is Vučić and how popular is he?
Vučić has spent two terms as president and cannot seek a third term, so he is now leading his party with the aim of returning to the post of prime minister, which he left in 2017.
The right-wing populist leader has doubled down on unfounded allegations that his opponents are not so much students and professors, but "mighty great powers" seeking to overthrow Serbia. And he has vowed an end to what he sees as the politicisation of schools and universities.
Vučić has steered a careful path with the West, continuing to back Serbia's candidacy for the European Union, while refusing to impose sanctions on Russia for its full-scale war in Ukraine. Several government ministers attended the Belgrade funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladić, prompting EU anger at his "glorification".
Helena Ivanov of the Henry Jackson Society, a foreign policy think tank, says the students have been able to mobilise the masses in a way traditional opposition parties have not been able to - and this is Vučić's biggest challenge since he came to power.
"He's been running in all elections Serbia has had since the introduction of multi-party election system - so obviously defeating him isn't going to be easy, but this time around President Vučić isn't going to have an easy time either," she told the BBC from Belgrade.
How do Serbia's elections work?
Serbia has a parliament with 250 seats and there is just one national constituency under proportional representation.
Voting runs from 07:00 (06:00 GMT) and ends at 20:00 on Sunday.
There are 6.45 million registered voters and anyone over the age of 18 gets the right to choose which party's list of candidates to vote for.
Sunday's vote involves 18 lists but only seven of them are fielding the full 250 candidates. MPs are elected according to how much support the list receives if it wins more than 3% of the vote.
Several opposition parties have pulled out in favour of the Student List.
Who are the student leaders and what do they stand for?
Far from being students themselves, the candidates are made up of teachers and university professors, actors and doctors, farmers and scientists.
They still have no leaders, but top candidate Ilija Srdanović is a cardiology professor in Novi Sad, while others include ex-basketball star Dejan Bodiroga, renowned actor Tihomir Stanić and former National Bank of Serbia governor Dejan Šoškić.
Under an 11-point programme, the student movement wants to:
* eradicate corruption by forming a police unit to arrest those responsible for it
* purge officials in the internal affairs ministry of anyone who broke rules on cracking down on protesters, or anyone linked to organised crime
* reform Serbia's skewed media scene and free the public broadcaster of political control
* stop recruiting party loyalists to head public enterprises
Vučić and the SNS party deny corruption and seeking to influence the media.
How fair will the vote be?
European observers are monitoring Sunday's vote, but even beforehand the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has spoken of a "tense and divisive electoral climate" and a "referendum-like atmosphere".
Serbia's election commission says elections are free and the ballot is secret. However, independent watchdog CRTA has warned of a campaign that has seen threats and physical violence, and opposition activists subjected to surveillance.
In a report ahead of the vote, it said instead of ensuring equal conditions for candidates, "a range of institutions, from ministries to local governments, became involved in electoral engineering".
Serbian media has seen almost three-quarters of TV coverage devoted to government representatives, the watchdog complained, and alleged that ministries and local governments had become caught up in "electoral engineering".
Some 160 attacks have been recorded on media and journalists in Serbia this year, says the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.
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塞爾維亞選舉學生陣線過半勝 - Ivana Sekularac 等
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希望學生領袖群之間，不要因為爭奪「總理」職位而窩裏鬥；更請千萬不要上演《動物農莊》的戲碼(該欄2025/08/21)。
Serbia's Vucic concedes defeat in historic election win for student protest movement
Ivana Sekularac/Edward Mcallister/Aleksandar Vasovic, 10/25/26
Summary
* Election comes after two years of anti-government, student-led protests
* Vucic held power since 2014
* Little is known about how the students' candidates will govern
BELGRADE, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat to a student-led protest movement in a historic election on Sunday that ends his long grip on power and heralds a new political era in the Balkan country.
Vucic, a populist and nationalist, has dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president since 2014.
But he called snap elections in September after almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption and creeping authoritarianism triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.
"It is clear that we have lost these elections, the Student List has won," Vucic said in a televised speech.
Within moments of his announcement, the streets of Belgrade erupted in celebration. Tens of thousands of people thronged along the city's main boulevards, with cars honking, people dancing and students shouting "victory" and "he's done".
The students' win marks a profound political shift in the country of some 6 million people and is reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary's Viktor Orban, opens new tab in April. It may also offer a blueprint for other student movements across Europe, which have taken to the streets, opens new tab in recent weeks to protest, in some cases violently, opens new tab, against poor education standards and a lack of prospects.
Vucic said the students would have between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament and that his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) would have 105, based on preliminary results.
"Dear Serbia, tonight the voice of the people is being heard," said Radomir Sajcic, a professor at Belgrade University, speaking on behalf of the students at their headquarters.
"Tonight we celebrate victory, tomorrow we build the future."
European leaders and officials congratulated the Student List on its victory, among them President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
"We stand ready to...work together to advance Serbia's future in the European Union," von der Leyen wrote on X.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar assured the students of his country's support.
RECORD TURNOUT SPURS STUDENTS TO VICTORY
Lines snaked from polling stations in cities and towns across the country earlier in the day, and even Vucic waited for nearly two hours to vote in Belgrade. Pollsters and the election commission put turnout close to 70%, the highest since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992.
"(The turnout) did not surprise me because there was a large and strong mass that has formed throughout the past two years," said voter Katarina Petrovic.
Vucic, who resigned from his second term as president to run again for prime minister, was a strong incumbent and few in the student protest movement dared believe he would concede so fast.
Supporters credit him with modernising Serbia's economy and building new highways, railways, schools and hospitals.
"Some businessmen, some people will leave us but our structure is firm, we are very united, very strong, we are used to being in the opposition," Vucic said.
UNCERTAINTY OVER THE STUDENTS' CANDIDATES
Much remains unclear about how the student-backed candidates will fare.
Their list of 250 largely unknown candidates includes university professors, actors and farmers, and is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, who was in tears after Vucic's announcement.
However, it is unclear who will be prime minister and enact the students' domestic agenda, which aims to root out graft and improve schooling. Political analysts predict some kind of purge of Vucic allies in the police, security services and ministries. But the students have been quieter on their international ambitions.
As Vucic did for years, they will have to juggle relations with China, a major investor, Russia, Serbia's traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, and the European Union, Serbia's largest trading partner.
"The biggest uncertainty is...who is going to lead the government, who will be the key ministers, and how they will operate based on the promises they made to fight corruption, to reintroduce the rule of law, but also to re-establish Serbia's position in foreign policy," said Radivoje Grujic, a Warsaw-based election consultant.
PROTEST MOVEMENT INCREASED PRESSURE
The student-led street protests sparked by the station disaster started small but quickly became the biggest in a generation, calling for Vucic to step down. Rights groups and activists say repression worsened, opens new tab in the period since.
Vucic and the SNS repeatedly denied accusations of repression, corruption and spying on their opponents. He has said the students are funded by foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro, a charge the students dismiss.
Meanwhile, on the streets of Belgrade, a traditional brass band struck up, and a group including a man in a "students are champions" jumper floated balloons in the shape of the number 3, representing the number of the students' list of candidates.
"We will drink a beer to celebrate, we will get drunk, we are so happy, I have no words to describe how much," said Andjela, a student who was with a group of friends.
Dejan Soskic, a former central bank governor and a candidate of the Student List, called on people to maintain order and peace, and thanked voters for their civilised conduct during the electoral process.
Reporting by Ivana Sekularac, Aleksander Vasovic and Edward McAllister; Editing by Kirsten Donovan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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