The Irish Times view on Serbia’s election: youthquake in Belgrade

Serbia’s Student List movement had a remarkable success in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, capturing 53 per cent of the vote and 141 of the 250 seats in an unprecedentedly high 70 per cent turnout. The decisive defeat of Aleksandar Vucic and his Progressive Party comes on the back of an intense two-year popular campaign against the authoritarian regime he had constructed. Using corruption, repression and partisan control of the state and institutions, Vucic skilfully exploited traditional Serbian nationalism to consolidate his rule.

Detoxification of this power structure in the name of a renewed civic democracy is the main task the student movement has set itself. The collapse two years ago of a railway station canopy, killing 16 people, became a potent symbol of state corruption and a catalyst for the new movement. It is not a political party and has no established leadership. Its electoral list includes prominent academic, professional and artistic figures. They now have to form a government capable of cleaning up deeply rooted networks created by the Vucic regime, while tackling Serbia’s many economic and social problems.

It will be a difficult task, even if the new government enjoys international support. The movement is similar to others in Hungary and Albania, and further afield in India and Bangladesh. It also mirrors the youth movements throughout Europe which are currently seeking greater inter-generational equality. There are echoes, too, of previous campaigns in Serbia against the Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 and, ironically, Vucic’s own ousting of Milosevic’s successor in 2014. These cyclical problems require determined reforms if they are to be overcome, and will need real political innovation to succeed.

The Student List programme avoided commitments on foreign policy issues such as Serbia’s alignment with Russia, its attitude to EU membership or towards Kosovo. These will not be top of its political priorities but may take up more energy than anticipated. Presidential elections in December are a more immediate challenge.