Serbia’s “student list” won 140 of the 250 seats in the new parliament, giving it a clear majority to form the next government after voters brought an end to Aleksandar Vucic’s 14-year rule. The movement’s peaceful electoral victory now leaves it facing the challenges of governing.
The movement is a decentralised coalition without a shared ideology, united primarily by its opposition to Vucic. Its transition from a horizontal protest movement to a government structure with a more hierarchical form of leadership could prove difficult.
No students will take seats in parliament. The list’s 250 candidates, mainly university professors and civil society figures, were put forward by the movement but are not formally members of it. Students say they intend to monitor the government’s work, though how they will do so has not yet been defined.
Sources: Le Monde International.