Student Uprising Sweeps Serbia in Mirror of Hungary's Political Shift

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić admitted defeat at 21:30 on Sunday evening, ending his 14-year hold on power. The Student List, a political movement formed less than two years ago, secured 140 seats in the 250-seat parliament. This outcome closely mirrors the defeat of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in April, when Péter Magyar’s Tisza party won 140 seats in the 199-seat Hungarian parliament.

Both electoral victories were driven by high voter turnout and a coordinated effort by young, tech-savvy citizens to monitor the vote. Turnout reached 69% in Serbia and 79% in Hungary. In both countries, opposition groups used artificial intelligence tools to analyze data, identify threats, and mobilize thousands of election monitors. The Student List insists it has no formal leadership, while Tisza remains centered on its leader, Magyar.

Before the Serbian vote, Hungarian civic group DE sent 70 monitors to the northern province of Vojvodina to assist Serbian students. They had held workshops during the summer to share techniques from the Hungarian election. A primary strategy involved identifying polling districts with high historical vote counts for the governing party, which suggested potential intimidation or chain voting. Páter Klemm, a student activist from Subotica, stated that masked groups of Vučić supporters gathered near stations around 16:00 on election day. He said mobile teams filmed the activity while 20 to 30 stationary volunteers per station acted as a deterrent.

Vučić and Orbán had maintained close political and business ties for over a decade. The two leaders met in Subotica last November for a lunch of burek pastries and a visit to a winery. They discussed business deals, including the planned Hungarian purchase of Serbia’s Niš oil refinery. Both men maintained strong relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. A high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest is currently under construction with Chinese financing.

Speculation this week suggests Vučić called Orbán twice on Sunday night to seek advice on whether to concede or use force. Vučić denied speaking with Orbán before his announcement but confirmed a later conversation at 23:15. Orbán declined to comment. Magyar, the only European leader to congratulate the Serbian students directly, told the BBC that the Tisza story could inspire other nations.

The collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy on November 1, 2024, which killed 16 people and was blamed on corruption, served as a catalyst for the Serbian student movement. Hungarian companies close to Orbán were involved in that construction project. Both Vučić and Orbán now face potential prosecution for corruption and abuse of power. Serbia’s JTOK and Hungary’s NVVH special prosecution services have similar powers and could cooperate in these cases.

Áron Timar, founder of the DE civic action group, noted that European observers often believed the two regimes grew stronger with time. He stated that the opposite occurred, and once society rose up, the momentum was difficult to stop.