Serbia's student movement holds final rally before Sunday's election

Supporters of Serbia's student-led protest movement filled Belgrade's Slavija Square on Thursday for the Student List's final rally before Sunday's parliamentary election. Aleksandar Vucic, who stepped down as president in September to run for prime minister, held a rival rally across town and urged supporters to defeat the movement decisively.

The Student List is running 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament on an anti-corruption platform. The movement grew out of protests after the November 2024 canopy collapse at Novi Sad's railway station, which killed 16 people. Vucic has called it a foreign-funded coup attempt. Serbia lacks reliable independent polling, and AP reported polls suggest a close race.

Why it matters: The vote is the biggest electoral test for Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party since it took power in 2012. Civil society groups have warned that conditions for a free and fair vote are lacking.