After two years of protests, a student-led movement has defeated Serbia’s authoritarian leader, Aleksander Vučić, at the ballot box. But can a leaderless movement govern a country? This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Serbia’s political landscape has been upended. On Sunday, record numbers of people went to the polls and voted to end the 12-year rule of Aleksandar Vučić. And who did they back instead? A list of candidates, half of whom have PhDs, put forward by student activists whose protests have rocked the Balkan country for the past two years.
Helen Pidd speaks to the Serbian-American journalist Ana Milosavljevic, the student activist Tara Blagojević and the MP-to-be Milica Jovanović about how the Student List managed to defeat Vučić’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
With victory secured, the hard part begins: how does a leaderless movement choose a prime minister and run a country?
The podcast discusses Serbia’s political crisis, the history of student protests and their election victory. The Student List’s victory ended 12 years of authoritarian rule in Serbia. However, the movement has no leader, which raises doubts about its ability to govern the country. Experts note that choosing a prime minister and forming a government will be a difficult process for a leaderless movement.
In the podcast, Helen Pidd, Ana Milosavljevic, Tara Blagojević and Milica Jovanović discuss the situation in Serbia. They talk about how the student protests began, the weakening of Vučić’s regime and the course of the election campaign. They also touch upon the post-victory challenges – forming a government, choosing a prime minister and running the country.
This podcast was published in The Guardian’s “Today in Focus” programme. Listeners can send their comments and questions to [email protected].