Vučić voted out: a fresh start for Serbia?

The winners have their work cut out for them, Proto Thema emphasises:

“If the Student List movement succeeds in freeing Serbia from its political past, its relationship with the EU, Nato and the revisionist powers could reshuffle the geopolitical deck in the Balkans. But in the meantime it remains to be seen whether it is at all capable of effectively managing domestic affairs, the economy and infrastructure, or at least of demanding better conditions for the redistribution of wealth and greater social justice. If one or more of these goals is realised, a 'Serbian Spring' could be within reach after a long and harsh 'political winter'.”

In a Telegram post republished by Echo, journalist Dmitry Kolezev assesses the impact of the change of government on the country's relations with Russia:

“The leaders of the Student's List emphasise that their government will not adopt an openly anti-Russian stance; for instance, they have officially pledged not to implement the European sanctions against Russia (after all, there is considerable sympathy for Russia within Serbian society). According to polls, however, their voters are even more in favour of pursuing the path of EU integration. ... In the current situation, this will inevitably mean a cooling of relations with Moscow, although the Kremlin will certainly do everything in its power to maintain ties.”

The anti-Vučić front has brought together very diverse factions, Avvenire notes with concern:

“There are the pro-Europeans, but also the nationalists who challenge Vučić from the right and accuse him of having 'sold off' Kosovo. There are environmentalists who fought against Rio Tinto's project to mine lithium in Serbia. ... Then there are those who venerated the war criminal Ratko Mladić, and those who look back with pain on the atrocities committed by the Serbs in the 1990s. The opposition newspaper Danas has also questioned how long the Student List, made up as it is of people with differing ideologies, can remain united.”

The Serbian students achieved far more than simply filling squares with people, Naftemporiki emphasises:

“They convinced the public that protests can make a difference. They took the anger over a tragedy and channelled it into organised political action and, almost two years later, into a parliamentary majority. Aleksandar Vučić’s defeat shows how a system of long-standing dominance can collapse when it loses its greatest advantage: the belief that there is no alternative. ... The absence of a central figure – which under other circumstances would have been a weakness – actually proved to be protective. It limited the ability of those in power to personalise the conflict, isolate an opponent or portray the protest as driven by personal ambition.”

The Student List now faces the daunting task of tackling corruption in Serbia, Jutarnji list observes:

“The students now have a sufficient majority to form a government and shape Serbia's political direction. But to what extent this will change the current political landscape remains to be seen. ... The question is how all the judges, police officers, diplomats and businesspeople who are indebted to Vučić will behave. It will take an iron broom to clean things up and tackle the corruption and clientelism that have permeated every corner of Serbian society. ... Vučić has said that he is not afraid of prison, as he knows that he and his cronies have many skeletons in the cupboard. ... Nevertheless, it's hard to imagine that he would actually go along with a prison sentence.”

Serbian democracy is alive and kicking despite all the repression, observes SRF:

“The election victory is a rejection of Vučić's increasingly authoritarian policies, which built on incitement and division. In his 14 years in power he has brought large sections of the media under his control. In the media outlets he controls, political opponents are aggressively defamed. Civil servants were pressured into voting for the government. Hooligans were paid to act as unofficial thugs to intimidate political opponents. With their colourful and creative campaign, the students presented an alternative vision for a different Serbia – a Serbia in which institutions operate independently, where there is freedom of the press, and which is free of corruption. In short: a democratic Serbia.”

The election results in south-eastern Europe inspire new hope for democracy, the Financial Times notes with satisfaction:

“Vučić's defeat, following Orbán's, is another electoral earthquake in south-eastern Europe that will reverberate well beyond the country's borders. It is also another example of people power overcoming an autocrat's determined and systematic efforts to stack the electoral system in his favour. ... Its Student List victory gives Serbia a chance to restore democratic checks and balances, to restart its stalled EU membership bid and to play a more constructive role in Kosovo, Bosnia and elsewhere in its neighbourhood.”

Die Zeit criticises the attitude of Europe's governments:

“For years they have been courting Aleksandar Vučić. ... The argument has always been that all things considered, he is the guarantor of stability in the notoriously unstable Balkans. ... Over the past two years, the consequences of the leading European politicians' opportunistic stance towards Vučić's Serbia have become all too clear. No EU flags were to be seen at the mass demonstrations. ... In other words: a European movement has triumphed in Serbia that has nothing to do with the European Union in its current constellation. So let no one claim that the election in Serbia is a victory for Europe.”

Just like voters in Hungary, those in Serbia have had enough, says Népszabadság:

“The change of system in Hungary on 12 April may also have played a role in this result. Budapest set an example for Belgrade. ... When a regime is preoccupied solely with enriching the ruling elite, voters will make it pay the price. The result is also bad news for Vladimir Putin. And another slap in the face: before the Hungarian election he backed Orbán, in Serbia he backed Vučić's party. On neither occasion did the voters listen to him.”