Inside the leaderless movement set to govern Serbia

{"text":[[{"start":5.4,"text":"Several dozen students listen intently as a bespectacled young man in a black jumper with a white Nordic pattern briskly reads out agenda items projected on to the wall. No one interrupts. After each item, they vote by a show of hands."}],[{"start":20.94,"text":"Behind him, a vast green chalkboard is plastered with homemade signs: “Be competent, not obedient”, “It’s time for those in power to sit an exam” and, the largest one: “We are the force that brings change.”"}],[{"start":34.16,"text":"The “plenum” in December 2024 was one of the first held by technical sciences students at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia’s north. Outsiders, including journalists, were barred from such meetings. But some were filmed, and students shared the footage with the FT."}],[{"start":50.28,"text":"A month earlier, Novi Sad had witnessed a disaster that became the grim catalyst for a spiralling movement towards political change. A concrete canopy at the city’s recently renovated railway station collapsed, killing 16 people and prompting a flood of outrage. The tragedy became a symbol of the corruption that plagued the country."}],[{"start":69.64,"text":"“Symbolically, we were all under this canopy,” said Aleksandar Baucal, a psychology professor at the University of Belgrade, who is now likely to enter parliament representing the student movement."}],[{"start":81.12,"text":"Over the next two years, these gatherings evolved from organising anti-government protests into highly disciplined collective decision-making bodies."}],[{"start":89.6,"text":"The so-called Student List — a slate of 250 professors, doctors, writers, architects and other professionals, most with no previous political experience, meticulously assembled by the plenums — won the October 25 election, a remarkable feat for a movement barely two years old."}],[{"start":106.6,"text":"It unseated Serbian nationalist strongman Aleksandar Vučić, prompting him to concede defeat before all votes were counted — all without bloodshed in a Balkan country still scarred by war and ethnic tensions."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":118.88,"text":"Čedomir Đurin, a third-year physics student activist at the University of Novi Sad, was stunned by how readily Vučić conceded defeat after 14 years of tightening his grip on power and increasingly violent crackdowns on protesters. “My first thought was: wow, is that it?” said Đurin."}],[{"start":135.164,"text":"But the hard part might only be beginning: the newly elected lawmakers must now find a way to govern without betraying the movement’s principles and despite a probable backlash from the ousted regime."}],[{"start":145.6,"text":"“I don’t mind the adults taking the job from here. Honestly, I feel relieved,” said Jana Vasić, a final-year law student at the University of Belgrade, whose life is finally about to return to normal — just like that of thousands of other students."}],[{"start":160.86,"text":"After the disaster at Novi Sad’s railway station, student protests swept the country, blockading universities when Vučić sent riot police to crack down on the demonstrations. By the end of 2024, most universities across Serbia were under blockades. No lectures, no seminars, no exams were held until the government agreed to investigate the cause of the train station collapse."}],[{"start":183.96,"text":"Some students stayed there for days, going home only to shower and quickly returning for the movement’s plenums."}],[{"start":190.38,"text":"“They are like the military: laser-like focus and determination,” said Ksenija Đorđević, a Student List candidate who could take up a parliamentary seat in coming weeks. She spoke to the FT at her architecture studio in central Belgrade next to the presidential palace, wearing her signature red lipstick, monochrome suit and Dior necklace."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":210.56,"text":"Day by day, students gathered for hours-long plenums to vote on everything from what they would eat to their political programme. The meetings were chaired by a different student each time. They avoided letting the same people speak to the media too often, for fear they might be portrayed as leaders."}],[{"start":226.42,"text":"Remaining leaderless was a founding principle of the movement, intended to avoid the mistakes of the past, when personal ambitions had eclipsed the common cause."}],[{"start":234.56,"text":"Baucal, whose students let him observe some plenums, said he had seen some try to “become more important than others” but was “impressed” by how the rest “immediately mobilised to prevent it”."}],[{"start":245.34,"text":"By late spring of 2025, with accountability for the Novi Sad tragedy still elusive, the students issued a new demand: parliamentary elections. Vučić stepped down as president in September 2026 and called early parliamentary elections in a last-ditch attempt to come back to power as prime minister."}],[{"start":263.42,"text":"The students began assembling their list of candidates for parliament, allocating slots to different universities in proportion to their student bodies. The students themselves did not stand, but nominated teachers and other professionals."}],[{"start":277.14,"text":"“We believe that people who are experts in their field should lead the country,” said Đurin. It also helped ensure that everyone was fighting for something larger than themselves, he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":287.94,"text":"Putting together the list took months of voting. Any student could “present” a candidate, provided they had secured their consent."}],[{"start":295.94,"text":"The selection plenums were particularly secretive. “We left all the phones outside. After the presentation, we gave the candidates nicknames, which changed all the time. Today, we would call them Teletubbies. Tomorrow, [the names of] Star Wars characters, so if anything leaks, state media won’t be able to connect the dots,” said Novak Simin, a PhD student in human resources from Novi Sad."}],[{"start":320.62,"text":"The list remained secret until just before the election to shield candidates from government pressure and potential smear campaigns, although some still faced attacks in state media. “It was ugly,” said Đorđević, the architect."}],[{"start":335.02,"text":"Candidates nonetheless began meeting one another and the students’ faculty-level “working groups”."}],[{"start":340.02,"text":"Out of these discussions emerged the movement’s 11-point electoral programme. It avoided divisive issues such as Kosovo — whose self-declared independence is rejected by Serbia — Russia or EU integration, focusing instead on corruption, nepotism, freeing state institutions from political control, and improving public services. Deliberately non-ideological, the list brought right and leftwing candidates together."}],[{"start":366.06,"text":"The candidates reject the idea that the range of views will present challenges in the future. “What difference do these ideologies make, if the system does not function and you cannot advocate for them?” said Baucal, the psychology professor. He sees their mission as building a functioning system that will allow fresh elections in four years."}],[{"start":384.34,"text":"“We are here to create, not to rule,” said Đorđević."}],[{"start":388.58,"text":"To keep candidates on course, students asked them six months ago to sign “social contracts” committing them to the movement’s values and plans."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":396.82,"text":"Svetlana Porović Mihajlović, a writer in her late sixties who volunteered to help elderly and disabled people vote, said of the students: “It’s as if they’ve come from another dimension . . . They’re quicker. Smarter. They think 10 kilometres ahead of us.”"}],[{"start":412.38,"text":"When students last summer approached Dejan Šoškić, the former Serbian central bank governor who quit in 2012 over political interference, he gave them “all the reasons why he shouldn’t be there”, mainly the constant media attacks against him. But the students came back and he eventually agreed. He is ranked 27th on the 250-strong list."}],[{"start":433.9,"text":"As the Student List secured 52 per cent of the vote, its first 140 candidates are entitled to enter parliament, with the next in line taking their place if anyone withdraws. They have 30 days to settle who takes the seats."}],[{"start":447.38,"text":"A further 60 days are allotted to form a government and nominate a prime minister. Students and candidates are now going through rounds of plenums and other discussions to fill those positions."}],[{"start":457.94,"text":"After that, the Student List will shift from collective decision-making to more conventional procedures. “The expectation is to operate as the legislative body normally does in a democratic country,” said Šoškić."}],[{"start":470.06,"text":"The students plan to return to their lives, retaining an oversight role. “Successful institutions need a self-correcting mechanism, and that’s what the student movement will be: creative and corrective force,” said Đorđević."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":483.122,"text":"Simin, the PhD student, said he felt “a huge burden coming off his chest”, adding that there was still work to do, including preparing for presidential elections later this year."}],[{"start":492.3,"text":"The transition could prove difficult. Vučić’s party and his allies retain some 100 parliamentary seats, as well as the caretaker government and president. Vučić, 56, has said he expects to return to power “within two years, perhaps sooner”, when Serbians will “realise their mistake”."}],[{"start":509.5,"text":"The new government’s ability to stay united and deliver meaningful reforms in its first six to 12 months, including independent corruption investigations, could prove critical, said Jörn Fleck, senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center."}],[{"start":523.7,"text":"Serbia remembers another revolution that failed to deliver. In 2000, mass protests toppled Slobodan Milošević, who later died while on trial for war crimes in The Hague. That raised hopes for democracy and a European future."}],[{"start":538.46,"text":"But reformers struggled to dismantle the old regime’s networks. The assassination of a new prime minister deepened disillusionment, paving the way for the return of Milošević-era figures, including Vučić, his former information minister."}],[{"start":552.7,"text":"Many student protesters are the children of those who rose up against Milošević. The parents are fully supportive, hoping this generation will fare better."}],[{"start":561.82,"text":"Students and candidates believe this time could be different, pointing to the plans they have developed together. Their confidence is bolstered by the scale of their victory: more than 620,000 votes ahead of Vučić’s party in a country of 6.5mn people."}],[{"start":576.66,"text":"“I really doubt that they will fail,” said Vasić, the law student. “And if they do . . . we can remove them.”"}],[{"start":586.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793597387_5492.mp3"}