Oct 29, 2026 · 29 min · 10 segments
After two years of protests, a student-led movement has defeated Serbia’s authoritarian leader, Aleksander Vučić, at the ballot box. But can a leaderless movement govern a country? Send your comments…
Helen PiddHostMilica JovanovicGuestTara BlagojevichGuestAnna MiloslavjevicGuestYeah, so I was kind of milling about in central Belgrade near the National Assembly of the Parliament.
People were screaming out of joy, jumping in front of cars and cars would honk and just pure elation and ecstasy and yeah, it just seemed indescribable.
Literally a miracle.
Unreal.
This is like a dream.
I don't know how else to describe it.
Like, I have a feeling I need to wake up.
But it's not.
It's reality.
After 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, Serbian strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic was out.
And the scale of his defeat was so obvious that he conceded shortly after polls closed.
Thank you.
That you wouldn't bother.
We don't have the final results.
There was a steady amount of noise and cheering, but once he had conceded, it audibly went up a level, and that's when, you know, you could tell the crowd knew.
We won! We won! And she lost! And we won by so much that it has to say that she lost! I am the champion man in the world, and she is the biggest loser in the world!
Vucic was defeated not by a political party, but a leaderless movement driven by Serbia's students.
The reason we decided not to have a leader was to abolish the cult of a leader.
We didn't want one person to be the most important one or the most exposed one because we knew that that person were more prone to be under attack.
Instead of putting themselves forward for election, the students nominated experts from across Serbian society.
Yeah, so I was kind of milling about in central Belgrade near the National Assembly of the Parliament.
People were screaming out of joy, jumping in front of cars and cars would honk and just pure elation and ecstasy and yeah, it just seemed indescribable.
Literally a miracle.
Unreal.
This is like a dream.
I don't know how else to describe it.
Like, I have a feeling I need to wake up.
But it's not.
It's reality.
After 12 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, Serbian strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic was out.
And the scale of his defeat was so obvious that he conceded shortly after polls closed.
Thank you.
That you wouldn't bother.
We don't have the final results.
There was a steady amount of noise and cheering, but once he had conceded, it audibly went up a level, and that's when, you know, you could tell the crowd knew.
We won! We won! And she lost! And we won by so much that it has to say that she lost! I am the champion man in the world, and she is the biggest loser in the world!
Vucic was defeated not by a political party, but a leaderless movement driven by Serbia's students.
The reason we decided not to have a leader was to abolish the cult of a leader.
We didn't want one person to be the most important one or the most exposed one because we knew that that person were more prone to be under attack.
Instead of putting themselves forward for election, the students nominated experts from across Serbian society.
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