Serbia's Student List wins absolute majority, rules out Russia sanctions

Serbia's Student List claimed an absolute majority in Sunday's parliamentary election, ending 14 years of dominance by Aleksandar Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the highest voter turnout the country has seen in nearly three decades.

The Student List is set to send nearly 140 deputies to parliament. Vučić's coalition, United Serbia, won about 105 seats. He conceded defeat on election night, though he quickly signalled his party was not done: "You will see, in six months, no one will be happy and joyful anymore," he said, adding that "from tonight, we start preparing. We are going to defeat them." He also blamed foreign forces for his defeat, pointing to "various European countries, and the deep American state" as having orchestrated what he called a "verified revolution."

The result brings Serbia closer to the European Union in formal terms, but the list has drawn a sharp line on one key EU expectation: sanctions against Russia will not come. Speaking to RT Balkan, a Serbian-language broadcaster run by the Russian state-owned network RT, Professor Jovo Bakić of the Student List said Belgrade respects Russia "as a great power and historically important partner," and in many cases as their protector, adding that there will be no changes. He argued that sanctions from such a small country would essentially change nothing for Moscow, since even the entire EU had failed to harm it, while the move would damage bilateral relations. He also noted that Serbia knows what "kind of misery that [sanctions] is," having lived through UN sanctions during the 1990s. "I said this during the election campaign, and I'm saying it after the elections," Bakić added.

The list had stated its position before the vote: Serbia "will retain its principled stance on not introducing restrictive measures" toward Russia, according to the Student List.

Serbia's constitution requires a presidential election by 26 December. Until then, Ana Brnabić of the SNS serves as acting president. The Student List is made up of students, professors and doctors who rallied behind the movement hoping to free the country from corruption and political pressure on its institutions.