After Vucic defeat, Serbia waits to learn how student-backed leaders will govern

Student-backed candidates won 52.7% of votes, ahead of Vucic’s alliance on 39.2%, with 99% counted
Belgrade
Serbia woke to a new era on Monday after a student-backed protest movement unseated longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic in a historic landslide election that sparked nationwide celebrations, although few had an idea of how they would govern.
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Belgrade and other cities and towns across Serbia after Vucic conceded defeat late on Sunday, capping two years of peaceful anti-government protests calling for the populist ruler to step down.
With almost 99% of votes counted, the students’ candidates had secured a commanding 52.7% of the vote, according to the State Election Commission, versus 39.2% for Vucic’s Serbia Progressive Party (SNS)-led alliance.
That gives the students 139 seats in the 250-seat parliament, leaving the SNS alliance with 97, and the remainder held by minority parties. The constitution allows up to 90 days for the creation of a government, once the parliament is convened after the announcement of final results by the State Election Commission.
“I thought it was unbelievable, I still do not believe it. It was too long, and (Vucic) was pressuring us for a long, long time,” said university administrator Marijana Radovanovic Pajovic.
Vucic dominated Serbian politics as prime minister or president from 2014. But he was swept from power by a list of student-backed candidates born out of anti-corruption protests following the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of a train station canopy in the city of Novi Sad.

Profound political shift
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 in April. It may also offer inspiration to other student movements that have cropped up across Europe in recent weeks demanding better education standards and prospects.