The Young Christian Democrats (GDC) have welcomed the Student List’s success in Serbia’s early parliamentary elections on 25 October. In a statement, the movement reports a result of over 52% of the vote and, based on the provisional figures cited, an absolute majority of seats in the National Assembly, ending fourteen years of single-party rule.
To tell the story of the vote, the GDC gathered the testimony of Nevena Manić, a researcher and poet from Belgrade, who took part in the demonstrations and served as a poll watcher at the Čukarica polling station.
The starting point of the mobilisation is traced back to the collapse of the canopy at Novi Sad railway station on 1 November 2024, which claimed sixteen lives.
A tragedy that, in the researcher’s words as quoted in the statement, shows how corruption “at a certain point stops stealing money and starts taking lives.”
“Out of that grief a movement was born that, in two years of peaceful mobilisation, turned indignation into participation, protest into proposal, the public square into governing responsibility,” the statement reads.
The young Christian Democrats then explain the reasons behind their closeness to the Serbian movement: “As young people, we recognise in this victory values that are our own: human dignity, transparency and the fight against corruption, the primacy of the rule of law, politics as service rather than the exercise of power.” The statement describes the Student List as civic and non-partisan, noting that of the 250 candidates chosen by students, at least 150 hold doctoral degrees.
A fact Manić sums up with the phrase: “the most qualified people putting themselves at the service of citizens.”
Part of the statement is devoted to the relationship with the European Union. The GDC quotes a statement attributed to list leader Ilija Srdanović after the victory: “We remain on the path of European integration.” The priorities indicated concern chapters 23 and 24 of the negotiations, relating to the rule of law and fundamental rights.
Independent institutions and freedom of the press are, in the words quoted in the statement, “exactly what we took to the streets for.”
“A united Europe, founded on Christian roots and on the values of peace, freedom and solidarity that inspired its founding fathers, cannot call itself complete without the Western Balkans,” the GDC state.
From here comes the link to San Marino and the Association Agreement with the EU, which the statement notes was signed in Brussels on 19 October, after more than eleven years of negotiations. “Within a matter of days, two countries so different in history and size each took, in their own way, a step towards a more united Europe,” the movement writes.
The GDC’s political reading extends to the forces challenging European cohesion: “And they did so while Europe is under attack, from within and beyond its borders, by those who would like to see it divided: because a fragmented Europe is weak, frightens no one, and is easy to manipulate. Every step towards unity, from Belgrade as from San Marino, is also a response to those betting on its division.”
Manić addresses an invitation to participate to young Sammarinese: “In a small country, every individual counts even more.” The statement recalls the commitment of young Serbians and of citizens who stayed at the polling stations overnight to safeguard the vote, quoting another part of her testimony: “No one will do it for you. Democracy wears out if you don’t use it.”
“To the young people of Serbia and to the entire Serbian people, we extend a heartfelt wish that this season translates into concrete reforms, stronger institutions, and peaceful, respectful coexistence among all the country’s communities and minorities,” the Young Christian Democrats conclude.
