Serbia's Student List takes 141 seats, starting 30-day parliament clock

The Student List captured 53% of Serbia's vote and 141 of 250 parliamentary seats, giving the movement an immediate majority and triggering a 30-day clock to convene the new legislature. Projection from the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy in Belgrade, based on 100% of ballot samples counted, put Aleksandar Vučić's Serbian Progressive party at 39% and 103 seats. The remaining seats went to national minority party lists.

Vučić conceded late on Sunday after 14 years in power, which ended two years of protests that began when a canopy collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station and killed 16 people. Supporters gathered in Belgrade on Monday. The Kremlin said it hoped the incoming leaders understand that cooperation with Russia serves Serbia's interests, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the result a new chapter for the country.

The movement has no leader and no hierarchy, so the appointment of a prime minister and cabinet remains open. Its candidate list was assembled by Ilija Srdanović, a cardiologist, and included Dejan Šoškić, a former central bank governor, and Radomir Saičić, a chemistry professor at Belgrade University. Ana Mirković, a Student List candidate, said the first priority is what she called "the social and psychological detoxification" of the country.

The timeline now runs on fixed constitutional dates. The new parliament must convene within 30 days of the official election result, and the government must be formed within 90 days after that. A presidential election must be held before 27 December, because Vučić stepped down from the presidency to run for prime minister.

Nikola Burazer, programme director at the Centre for Contemporary Politics in Belgrade, said on Monday that the movement's decision-making process must "be sped up", noting that its process for choosing candidates "actually took a long time - months". The Student List platform calls for an independent police unit reporting to prosecutors rather than the interior ministry, removal of officers linked to organised crime, and a ban on appointing party loyalists to state-owned companies.

Dušan Vučićević, an analyst, said the movement "insisted as much as possible that Serbia must first and foremost address domestic political issues". German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Berlin would "actively support Serbia's European path".