Serbia's students demand police and judiciary resignations as they prepare to take power

Students push for an institutional overhaul

Serbia's Students' List movement on Thursday, 29 October, demanded the resignations of top officials in the police, intelligence agencies and the judiciary. The movement swept Sunday's parliamentary election, held on 25 October, against the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Aleksandar Vučić, which had ruled for 14 years. The outgoing authorities still control the state, and the formal transfer of power will take several weeks. At a news conference in a central Belgrade park, the students also asked election authorities to officially declare the final results so that a new parliament and government can be formed.

“Changes are starting now. Institutions belong to the citizens and the law applies to everyone.”

The students accused senior police and intelligence officials of serving Vučić's party during the protests in breach of the law, citing excessive force, illegal surveillance, detention and pressure on opponents. They asked public servants to stop departing officials from destroying documents or evidence of possible wrongdoing. They also called for judicial changes, urgent probes into high-level corruption cases that may have been shelved under political pressure, and a review of all public spending contracts.

Vučić's counterattack and the election-night account

Vučić held his own news conference on Thursday, accusing the winners of 'revolutionary terror' after groups stormed the Informer TV station, which had branded the students traitors and enemies of the state during the campaign. The Times, as cited by ANSA, reports a different account of Sunday evening: that Vučić sent thousands of police officers and 'thugs' outside Parliament to contest the result before a surprise climbdown. A former head of the Serbian police's counter-terrorism unit, cited by the paper, said 4,000 police officers and 3,000 'thugs' were sent to central Belgrade, and he was certain Vučić intended to reject the result. A spokesperson for Vučić said the police presence was a response to protester violence.

Die Zeit, as reported by Deutsche Welle, wrote that hundreds of riot police were posted at key points in central Belgrade on election day and that diplomatic pressure is the most common explanation for their withdrawal, though who applied it remains unclear. Unconfirmed rumours in Belgrade, reported by The Times, name Viktor Orbán as the person who persuaded Vučić to back down.

Media purge and prosecutions

Watson reports that Goran Eror, a news presenter at the regional broadcaster RTV, publicly apologized on air for years of disinformation under Vučić. Chief editor Nenad Cacic then resigned, and a new editorial leadership was installed. Reports say RTS director Manja Grcic also stepped down, although RTS has not issued a comparable admission, and the clip spread widely, often misattributed to RTS. Prosecutors for organised crime have opened criminal investigations into Foreign Minister Marko Djuric and 15 Serbian ambassadors over alleged abuse of power and violations of electoral law, including ambassador to Switzerland Ivan Trifunovic.

Foreign policy and open questions

Analyst Alexandru Lăzescu told Ziare.com that the list's victory was larger than its members expected, and that Vučić's removal does not guarantee Serbia turns hostile to Moscow.

“Serbia, at the level of its population, is very close to Russia. So I do not expect things to deteriorate very much in this respect.”

Lăzescu compared the mood with Romania's 1996 election and questioned the list's capacity to govern, since it has no structures and little political experience. Die Zeit noted that the 11-point programme adopted before the vote contains no foreign-policy topic, and that questions about relations with Russia, the conflict with Kosovo and EU membership remain open. Süddeutsche Zeitung reports that Ilija Srdanović, the list's figurehead, is working to shift attention away from himself. Die Zeit also noted that most of the list's 250 candidates are largely unknown.