Around 150,000 rally in Belgrade as Serbia heads to pivotal poll

Supporters of the electoral list "Student List - Students Win" attend a final campaign rally at Slavija Square in Belgrade on Thursday. | REUTERS

By Mina Pejakovic
AFP-JIJI

Oct 23, 2026

BELGRADE – Around 150,000 supporters of Serbia’s opposition student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday, seeking to oust the party of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic in crunch parliamentary elections this weekend.

The Student List, a leaderless movement of student-backed candidates, wants to end more than 14 years of rule by Vucic’s right-leaning populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Sunday’s vote.

It is the biggest threat Vucic has faced, and civil society groups have warned the poll campaign has been marred by intimidation, arrests, attacks, misuse of public resources and a distorted media environment.

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