Tens of thousands of supporters of Serbia's opposition student movement gathered in central Belgrade on Thursday, as the country's longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic rallied across town at the dueling final events ahead of pivotal parliamentary elections.
The Student List, a leaderless movement of student-backed candidates, is seeking to end more than 14 years of rule by Vucic's right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) when the country votes on Sunday.
It is the biggest threat Vucic has faced to his hold on power, and civil society groups have warned the election campaign has been marred by intimidation, arrests, attacks, misuse of public resources and a distorted media environment.
"I came to support the Student List because young people finally gave me hope that it is possible to live in a normal country," 47-year-old Marija Nedeljkovic Radic told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as she arrived for the students' rally.
"Really, for the first time in my life, I believe that it is possible."
The vote comes after nearly two years of student-led protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people.
The tragedy, widely blamed on corruption, triggered some of Serbia's largest protests since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, accused architect of genocide in the Balkans, in 2000.
The anti-corruption movement, led by university students, snowballed from demands for a transparent investigation into the tragedy into calls for an early election.
Waving "Students are winning" flags, chanting and blowing whistles, students marched through Belgrade before converging on Slavija Square, the site of some of their biggest protests.
By early evening, thousands had arrived, and crowds were still growing.
Vucic defiant
Vucic has dominated Serbian politics for over a decade, serving as either prime minister or president.
Amid mounting pressure, he announced the snap vote last month, setting up his biggest electoral challenge since his party took power in 2012.
Vucic, who addressed supporters at a sports hall in the capital on Thursday, has regularly accused the student movement of being a foreign-funded coup attempt.
"Let us never forget how they tried to bring down our state. Let us always protect and defend it," said the 56-year-old, who resigned to run for prime minister.
"Let us go out and defeat them! Defeat them decisively!" he said before white ticker tape and balloons showered the crowd.
Many of the 250 candidates of the Student List running for the 250-seat parliament are drawn from academia or are deliberate political outsiders.
The movement has a broad platform, but at its core is a pledge to fight corruption.
Serbia lacks reliable independent polling, and surveys have produced widely differing results.
Political scientist Dusan Vucicevic from Belgrade University told AFP it was difficult to predict an outcome but expected students to win more than 40% of the vote, a result significantly larger than any opposition list since SNS came to power.
Threats, intimidation
Days before the vote, Serbian civil society groups warned that conditions for "free and fair elections" were lacking.
"This assessment is not based on isolated incidents, opposition claims or political disagreement with the government," a joint statement by 24 organizations said.
"It is supported by documented findings from independent Serbian organizations working in different fields."
On Wednesday, Belgrade prosecutors questioned six people arrested on suspicion of plotting "violence, riots and attacks" on election day.
Reports of threats and intimidation targeting student demonstrators have grown in recent months, but their rallies have remained largely peaceful since they began.
"I've been following this fight since the very beginning," 35-year-old student rally attendee Igor said.
"Today is the last rally, and it's important that we all come here to send a message of love and peace and that we see each other on the 25th at the polling stations."