In Serbia's parliamentary election on 25 October 2026, a student-led movement has emerged as the most serious challenge to long-serving leader Aleksandar Vučić. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.

One of the leading figures of the opposition movement, called the Student List, is cardiologist Ilija Srdanović. He is a professor at Novi Sad University and the top candidate on the Student List.

"It is absolutely normal to stand with my students to help them in their fair struggle," Srdanović told the BBC.

The Student List emerged from almost two years of anti-corruption protests that began after 16 people died when a railway station's canopy collapsed in Serbia's second city, Novi Sad.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at university faculties selected 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election. They range from academics to athletes and from economists to engineers. None of them has a political background.

"We've gathered people who are actually the best in their fields, and we really think that they are competent enough to rule the country," says Aleksandra, a student at Novi Sad University.

The Student List has no hierarchy or nominated leader. This makes it a proposition unlike any other in Serbia's relatively short democratic history.

Reliable polls are thin on the ground, but analysts are predicting an extremely tight vote.

Aleksandar Vučić has served successively as deputy prime minister, prime minister and president since 2012. When he called these snap elections last month, he stood down as president to run again for the role of prime minister.

Vučić has painted the student movement as foreign-backed and seeking to "bring down our state". "Let us always protect and defend it," he told supporters at a final campaign rally.

At the last parliamentary election in 2023, the International Election Observation Mission noted "overwhelming ruling party advantage" due to "bias in the media" and "misuse of public office and resources".

The BBC approached leading figures in the SNS for an interview but was not offered a response.

Vučić's major challenge remains what happened outside Novi Sad railway station two years ago. The station's renovation was a key part of his signature infrastructure project – the high-speed line linking Belgrade and Budapest. So it has been difficult for Vučić to distance himself from the disaster.