Student List

From protest movement to electoral list

In the early phase of the protests, particularly until April 2025, the Students in Blockade stressed that they were not interested in elections or in who held power, and rejected coalitions or mergers with existing opposition parties.^[7] Contacts with parties were initially limited to coordinating protest demands and securing the release of detained activists, as the students sought to keep the movement above party politics.^[8] As the movement grew, the students came to be seen as the largest opposition force in the country.^[9]

Having decided to form their own list, the students entered talks with the opposition from a position of high public support. Rather than seeking places on party lists, they called on opposition parties not to run and to urge their voters to back the Student List instead.^[10] Months of talks and pressure, including appeals from the academic community and the civic initiative ProGlas, were accompanied by public disputes, such as a clash between the plenum of the Belgrade Faculty of Law and the New Democratic Party of Serbia.^[11][12] In September 2026, several opposition parties withdrew in favour of the Student List, while those that chose to run did not unite in a single opposition list (see Support).^[13]

Registration

The association Student List was registered with the Business Registers Agency on 21 May 2026 for a fixed term, valid until 1 May 2028.^[14][15] According to its Statute, it is a voluntary, non-governmental, non-partisan and non-profit association established for a fixed period to raise civic awareness of the importance of democracy and free and fair elections. Its goals include greater youth participation in democratic processes, monitoring elections and referendums, promoting the rule of law and freedom of speech, and holding those who break the law accountable.^[16]

The citizens' group Student List – Students Are Winning (SL – SP), through which the list formally contests the election, was founded on 9 September 2026, the day the snap parliamentary election was called.^[17] Its founders are Marija Maruna (professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade), Katarina Šćepanović (grammar school teacher and representative of the Forum of Belgrade Grammar Schools), Goran Perišić (worker) (worker at the Kolubara mining basin), Stanislav Milošević (teaching assistant at the Faculty of Mathematics in Belgrade), Aleksandar Čupić (research associate at the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences), Miljan Salata (architect), Milica Jovanović (teaching assistant) (teaching assistant at the Faculty of Organisational Sciences in Belgrade), Sanja Fric (assistant professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade), Mirjana Nikolić (rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade), Radomir Saičić (professor at the Faculty of Chemistry in Belgrade and academician), Dušan Đurđević (professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Priština), Željko Hubač (dramaturge and journalist), Maja Crnogorac Đurić (social worker and representative of the organisation Preschool Circle) and Miroslav Andrić (assistant professor at the Faculty of Dentistry in Belgrade). All of them are also candidates on the list.^[17][18]

Decoy associations

Shortly before the citizens' group was founded, three associations with names closely resembling that of the list were registered: "Students Are Winning", "Student List of Serbia – Students Are Winning" and "Student List of Belgrade – Students Are Winning". According to Vreme, all three were founded on 3 September 2026 by the same individual, with identical statutes and the same address in New Belgrade.^[19] The students described them as "fake associations" and said they suspected that the government would use them to submit decoy lists bearing the Student List's name, noting that recent changes to the electoral law allowed a single voter to sign in support of more than one list. They stressed that "Student List – Students Are Winning" was their only list.^[20]

Selection

According to reports in May 2025, the selection process was to begin with students contacting potential candidates between 8 and 14 May 2025. Candidacies would then be submitted to faculty commissions, and candidates would present themselves to the student plenums and answer students' questions, after which a student electoral commission would hold a vote. The 250 places on the list were to be distributed among the five state universities and the colleges of applied studies roughly in proportion to their size, and the names kept secret until the elections were called.^[21] Candidates had to meet the following criteria:^[22]

The student plenums also had the right to veto individual candidates.^[23] The secrecy surrounding the list led to extensive speculation throughout 2025 and 2026. Vladan Đokić, rector of the University of Belgrade, was frequently mentioned as a possible head of the list and said he was prepared to take part if the students chose him,^[24] but he was vetoed by a narrow majority in the plenums in September 2026.^[25] Others excluded included professor Milo Lompar, prosecutor Jasmina Paunović and activist Predrag Voštinić.^[23] The pro-government daily Politika reported that the plenums had vetoed dozens of potential candidates, which it presented as an effort to preserve the list's profile by excluding certain intellectuals and right-wing figures.^[26] Other names in media speculation included journalist Žaklina Tatalović and lawyers Zdenko Tomanović and Božo Prelević.^[27][28] In early September 2026, students said the full list of 250 candidates was ready and awaiting only the calling of elections.^[29]

Composition

The movement deliberately avoided appointing a conventional political leader, choosing its candidates through plenums and collective decision-making.^[1] The list is headed by cardiologist Ilija Srdanović, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad,^[30] and comprises 250 candidates, mostly academics, experts and public figures, including the 14 founders of the citizens' group.^[31][32] Other prominent candidates include Nemanja Đurić, president of the Judicial Authority Trade Union; professor Ljubica Oparnica; sociologist Jovo Bakić; political scientist Adem Mavrić; actors Tihomir Stanić and Dragan Jovanović; environmental activist Zlatko Kokanović; geologist Zoran Đajić; former basketball player and Euroleague Basketball president Dejan Bodiroga; former National Bank of Serbia governor Dejan Šoškić; and former athlete Mihail Dudaš.^[33][34][1]

Student Plan

The "Student Plan", presented on 15 September 2026, consists of 11 points divided into three sections, "Serbia or the Mafia", "Knowledge is Power" and "Serbia Grows with Us". The fight against crime and corruption is at its centre, alongside social measures such as free school textbooks and cheaper medicines.^[2] Its central promise has been described as a broad change in the way Serbia is governed.^[1] The 11 points are:^[45]

Local elections

Before the 2026 parliamentary election, the name "Student List" was used colloquially for local electoral lists backed by the students. In 2025, the students called on local opposition groups to unite for the local elections in Kosjerić and Zaječar on 8 June, and pledged to help monitor the electoral process. The opposition united in Kosjerić but not in Zaječar, and the ruling coalition won in both municipalities.^[70]

In the local elections in Mionica, Negotin and Sečanj on 30 November 2025, students took part more directly, appearing on lists such as United for Mionica, United for Negotin and Voice of Youth that Changes Sečanj. The ruling coalition led by the Serbian Progressive Party won in all three municipalities.^[71] On 29 March 2026, local elections were held in ten municipalities, where student-backed lists ran either independently or in coalition with opposition parties. The ruling coalition won in all ten, with the student-backed lists coming second in each.^[72]

Parliamentary elections