Serbia's Student List earned power through principled protest and should be trusted to build a normal, functioning state
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/novak-simin. "As students we never sought power – here’s how we reclaimed Serbia | Novak Simin | The Guardian." October 26, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The author says that after a deadly railway station collapse exposed corruption, students peacefully demanded justice and were smeared and attacked. They then ran for office, won, and now want to give Serbia something basic but radical: honest, working institutions. He argues that their lack of political experience is a plus because voters wanted clean hands.
Conclusion
The student movement's electoral victory has legitimately reclaimed Serbia from a corrupt regime, and its political newcomers are well suited to deliver the radical but basic goal of a normal, functioning, accountable state.
Premises
- The Novi Sad station canopy collapse exposed systemic corruption and impunity, and the authorities responded with vilification and repression instead of a full, impartial investigation.
- The students' demands (transparent documentation, accountability for those responsible, prosecution of attackers) were minimal ones that any free country would accept, yet the regime refused them and smeared and persecuted the protesters.
- Only when the regime proved it would never concede did the students enter electoral politics, selecting candidates of integrity and competence through open, democratic plenary sessions.
- Unfiltered grassroots campaigning overcame state propaganda and won the voters' trust, producing an electoral defeat of the regime.
- The Student List's representatives are experts with records of honest work and civic integrity who have spent two years studying governance, so their lack of conventional political experience is a strength: voters wanted clean hands rather than slick rhetoric.
- The mandate's goals are modest but transformative: independent prosecutors, transparent procurement, legal accountability, and professional merit over party loyalty in public service.
Assumptions
- The election result reflects a clear popular mandate for the Student List's anti-corruption and rule-of-law agenda rather than mere anti-incumbent sentiment.
- Professional expertise and personal integrity in other fields transfer to effective governance and legislating.
- Two years of activism and study are adequate preparation for running state institutions.
- The regime's collapse removes the main obstacles to institutional reform, so that good intentions plus honest people will suffice.
- The students' account of the regime's repression and their own democratic conduct is accurate and representative.
- Outsider status and 'clean hands' reliably predict resistance to corruption once in power.