A leaderless revolution has swept Serbia. The world should be watching | Aleksandar Matkovic
A student movement known as the Student List has won Serbia's parliamentary election, defeating authoritarian president Aleksandar Vučić's party and becoming the largest political force in the country.
The images from Belgrade on election night showed people dancing and crying in the streets, while in Novi Sad, a flag bearing the image of convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj was torn down. This marked the culmination of a remarkable democratic experiment that began with university blockades in 2024 and 2025, evolving into the largest political force in Serbia through collective self-governance.
Student Movement Origins
The movement emerged from extraordinary faculty blockades where students debated nearly every aspect of Serbian society for hours on end. This collective intelligence process preceded any formal organization or joint program, with knowledge developing before structure. The author, Aleksandar Matkovic, became involved while lecturing at blockaded universities before moving abroad and running as a candidate.
In a sense, knowledge came first, and organisation followed.
Political Earthquake
Sunday's election victory represented a monumental struggle between Serbia's old political order and the new movement that arose from it. The Student List broke the monopoly of political parties, becoming more popular than both the right-wing government and virtually all opposition parties across the spectrum. Most traditional parties failed to even meet the electoral threshold.
The list comprises 250 candidates, 134 of whom hold PhDs, with 44% women representation. As described by the Economist, these "bunch of students" has created something that transcends traditional political methods.
Challenges Ahead
The movement now faces the challenge of governing without jeopardizing the self-organizing methods that made it successful. The list contains ideologically opposed blocs from right-wing adherents to leftwingers and liberals. Most elected members have never held political office and will need to nominate a prime minister and presidential candidate.
Vučić's concession of defeat may have been strategic, allowing him to maintain his party apparatus for a potential comeback. The real test begins now as the new movement confronts Serbia's political structures while potentially offering lessons for Europe's interconnected crises.
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