San Francisco Frontiers - Serbia records bumper turnout as students challenge ruling party

Two hours before polling stations closed, the country recorded its highest parliamentary election turnout in more than three decades.

The snap vote is the culmination of nearly two years of student-led protests after the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people.

The disaster has been widely blamed on corruption and triggered some of Serbia's largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

At many polling stations, long queues formed before doors opened and remained throughout the day, with thousands lining up in Belgrade and across the country.

"It cannot continue as it was during the past 14 years," Marija Spasenovic told AFP outside a Belgrade polling station.

Videos posted online showed Serbs abroad voting, from singing and dancing in the streets of Los Angeles to early-morning celebrations in a Toronto bar, where polling hours followed the Serbian time zone.

Long lines of cars also formed at the Croatian, Hungarian and Kosovo borders as the diaspora returned to vote.

According to the country's election officials, nearly 65 percent of its 6.4 million registered voters had cast their ballots by 6:00 pm (1700 GMT), two hours before polls closed.

The figure surpassed the 1993 parliamentary election, when just over 61 percent voted.

After more than 14 years of political dominance by Aleksandar Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), experts predict that an unusually high turnout would benefit the student movement.

The Students' List, a selection of candidates backed by the largely leaderless movement, now poses the biggest challenge to Vucic's right-wing populist SNS.

- Tensions -

Eighteen electoral lists are vying for seats in the 250-member parliament, but polls suggest voters will largely choose between the SNS and the student-backed list.

Several leading opposition parties have opted not to run, urging their supporters to back the students.

"In addition to high voter turnout, a large number of irregularities continue to be recorded, while violent incidents outside polling stations are also becoming increasingly frequent," CRTA's election observation head Rasa Nedeljkov told media.

Isolated incidents were reported, but police did not confirm any major election-related violence.

In the city centre, a large number of riot police were seen surrounding the election commission, the presidency building and an encampment of pro-government supporters in a nearby park as polls closed.

- 'Fighting for freedom' -

For nearly two years, students have staged rallies and marched across the Balkan nation to reach voters directly and counter the SNS's media machine.

Their protests have drawn huge crowds, with a final pre-election rally in Belgrade on Thursday attracting around 150,000 people, according to an independent protest monitor.

"Today, above all, Serbia is fighting for freedom and for the return of a country that has been hijacked," Dejan Bodiroga, a candidate on the Students' List and EuroLeague Basketball president, told reporters in Belgrade.

Vucic, who has also campaigned nationwide, has repeatedly accused the student movement of plotting a foreign-funded coup.

"Serbia is voting today to decide which direction it will take -- towards the future or the past," he told reporters in Belgrade where he had joined long queues to cast his vote.

At a nearby polling booth, Vesna Ivic said things had improved under the government compared to the country's turbulent past.

"This is a period when it is really much better than it was before. We had wars and bombings, and we didn't receive salaries ... A lot has been done, a lot," the 57-year-old teacher said.

- Political novices -

Most of the student list's 250 candidates are experts from fields including academia and the arts with little political experience.

The movement has a broad platform, centred on a pledge to fight corruption.

It evolved from demands for a transparent investigation into the Novi Sad tragedy into calls for an early election.

Against them, Vucic has tried to cultivate an image as an indispensable statesman, walking a diplomatic tightrope between the European Union and his close ally Russia.

Under mounting pressure, the 56-year-old called the vote last month, citing "major turbulence on the domestic political scene".

The right-wing populist leader resigned the presidency to run for prime minister.

O.Anderson--SFF