{"id":10751,"date":"2026-10-22T20:37:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10751"},"modified":"2026-10-22T20:37:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:37:04","slug":"thousands-gather-at-final-student-led-rally-ahead-of-serbia-election-elections-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10751","title":{"rendered":"Thousands gather at final student-led rally ahead of Serbia election | Elections News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The student movement aims to end Vucic\u2019s 14 years of rule at Sunday\u2019s vote, as he holds a rival rally across town.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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By <\/span>AFP and The Associated Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 22 Oct 2026<\/span>22 Oct 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tens of thousands of supporters of Serbia\u2019s student-led opposition movement have gathered in central Belgrade for their final rally ahead of a parliamentary election in which they hope to oust veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic\u2019s party.<\/p>\n

The crowds filled the capital on Thursday, as Vucic held a rival rally at a sports hall across town.<\/p>\n

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Waving \u201cstudents are winning\u201d flags and blowing whistles, the marchers converged on Slavija Square, the site of some of the movement\u2019s biggest protests.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s vote is seen as a chance to end Vucic\u2019s longtime rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, for the first time in my life, I believe that it is possible,\u201d said Marija Nedeljkovic Radic, 47, who said young people had given her hope of \u201ca normal country<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n

The vote follows nearly two years of student-led protests triggered by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad that killed 16 people.<\/p>\n

The Student List, a leaderless movement of student-backed candidates, is seeking to unseat Vucic\u2019s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power for more than 14 years.<\/p>\n

It is running 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament, many of them academics or political outsiders, on a platform centred on fighting corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are putting an end to 14 years of humiliation, chaos and betrayal, and to decades of putting personal and party interests above yours,\u201d university professor Jugoslav Gasic, one of the candidates on the Student List, told the crowd in Belgrade, who chanted \u201cVictory, victory!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou deserve better, and we know how to deliver it. Students are winning!\u201d<\/p>\n

The railway disaster, widely blamed on corruption<\/a>, triggered some of Serbia\u2019s largest demonstrations since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, and demands for transparency grew into calls for an early election.<\/p>\n

Over the week, students marched for days across the country, including rural areas that are Vucic\u2019s strongholds.<\/p>\n

Vucic, who resigned the presidency in September to run for prime minister, called the snap election last month. He has accused the movement of being a foreign-funded coup attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us go out and defeat them! Defeat them decisively!\u201d he told supporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Serbia lacks reliable independent polling. But political scientist Dusan Vucicevic told the AFP news agency he expected the students to win more than 40 percent of the vote, far more than any opposition list since the SNS took power in 2012.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press news agency reported that polls suggested a close race between the two sides, raising fears of incidents if both claim victory.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four Serbian civil society groups warned this week that conditions for \u201cfree and fair elections\u201d were lacking, and a monitoring group cited more than 100 violent incidents during the campaign.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, prosecutors questioned six people arrested on suspicion of plotting \u201cviolence, riots and attacks\u201d on election day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The student movement aims to end Vucic\u2019s 14 years of rule at Sunday\u2019s vote, as he holds a rival rally across town. By AFP and The Associated Press Published On 22 Oct 202622 Oct 2026 Tens of thousands of supporters of Serbia\u2019s student-led opposition movement have gathered in central Belgrade for their final rally ahead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t