For Serbians, Sunday’s parliamentary elections will feel like a novelty. It might be the country’s seventh such vote since 2012 but, for the first time in 14 years, the result will not be easy to predict.
Aleksandar Vučić is facing an unfamiliar challenge. None of the elections since his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) entered government have featured a credible alternative proposition for voters. Whether serving as president or prime minister, he has been the undisputed man in charge, taking control of so many aspects of government that critics mockingly dubbed him “Superman”. The Vučić-friendly media has embraced the label, portraying him as the tireless, sleepless protector of the Serbian people.
This time, however, most opposition parties have stepped aside to allow a clear run for the Student List, a grassroots anti-corruption movement fielding candidates to run against the former president. In a move that indicates wisdom beyond their years, the students have not put themselves forward as a potential government. Instead they have nominated uncontroversial academics and athletes, alongside a few economists and engineers.
Heart surgeon Ilija Srdanović is at the top of the candidate list. If the Student List wins, he is the most likely to become prime minister. On the campaign trail, Srdanović has proven himself to be a snappy dresser with wit to match. Like the rest of the Student List, however, he has no prior political experience. The movement insists that this is a strength rather than a weakness. From a wide range of professional backgrounds, the student-approved candidates are – crucially – untainted by the suspicion of corruption and cronyism that clings to most of Serbia’s political class.
But the nature of the opposition is not the only obstacle that Vučić faces. His kryptonite is arguably the event that triggered the student protests. Sixteen people died in November 2024, when a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in Serbia’s second city, Novi Sad. This was not a crumbling piece of ex-Yugoslav architecture but a key part of Vučić’s signature infrastructure project: the high-speed railway linking Belgrade to Budapest.
Distancing himself from the disaster was always going to be difficult. Two years prior, Vučić held a rally at the re-opening of the facility alongside Hungary’s then-prime minister, Viktor Orbán. From the top of the station canopy, the message from the speeches was clear: the railway project was going to transport the country into the future and voters could trust Vučić to be the man behind the wheel.
Above all else, this projection of competence has been the key to Vučić’s electoral success. Detractors – and international monitors – have correctly highlighted the SNS’s domination of media coverage and its use of state resources to boost its share of the vote. But a significant proportion of Serbia’s voters just liked the cut of Vučić’s jib. As long as they saw him as a strong leader who was making life better in Serbia, they were willing to look the other way when it came to allegations of authoritarianism.
The Novi Sad disaster significantly dented Vučić’s public perception. Now the question is: will the Student List be able to take advantage of the former leader’s tainted image where other opposition movements have failed? Vučić has resigned as president so that he can lead the SNS’s list of candidates for prime minister. In essence, he is betting everything on the hope that enough of his “Superman” aura remains.
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