Description: Longstanding populist leader, Aleksandar Vucic, officially conceded his party’s defeat to the Student List party in Serbia’s parliamentary election. The official results claimed that Student List would have around 140 parliamentary seats, winning 2.2 million votes, while Vucic’s SNS party would retain around 105 seats in opposition, garnering support from 1.6 million voters. The difference in the polls was significant, with 52.65% of the votes for the Student List party and only 39.2% of the votes for the SNS. Vucic attributed the Student List victory to election meddling from some European states, Serbia’s independent media outlets and an American “Deep State” interference. The Student List victory was met with outpouring public support and congratulatory messages from the European Union as well as the progressive leader of Hungary, Peter Magyar. Russia accredited Vucic for the years of cooperation and stated that it hoped the new Serbian political force would realize that cooperation with Russia was in Serbia’s best interest. The Student List candidates are expected to nominate a Prime Minister and rule from a majority position in Serbia’s future government.
Impact: Serbia’s major political transformation is likely to bring significant pivots in respect to the country’s international partners in the mid to long – term period. Domestically, the Student List party is likely to bring major reforms in Serbia’s socio – economic systems in terms of corruption, judicial reforms, security reforms and reforms in the economic system in the short to mid – term period. The conceded defeat by Vucic highly likely diminishes the prospects of civil unrest in the short to mid – term. SNS is highly likely to resort towards systemic sabotage as a strategy of undermining the Student List, considering that the latter has inexperienced political representatives aiming to reconstruct the country’s political and economic system and root out corruption. Student List also likely faces a challenging political landscape internationally, since it would need to cultivate an equilibrium between ties with China, Russia and the European Union. The party is highly likely to engage in immediate systemic reforms that would put Serbia on the EU integration path.