Photo: Dušan Milenković/ATAImages
“That was a very special experience,” Jovo Bakić, a candidate on the Student List, told Danas the morning after election day and night.
“First I went to vote. The queue was huge, bigger than ever, but it moved quite quickly. It was clear, both at my polling station and at others, from the footage, that people had simply turned out to change this regime. That became especially clear when I saw the president—and another politician—waiting in line to vote as they were leaving. His body language said more than all the words,” Bakić recalled. A professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, he was experiencing historic change from the other side this time: the winning side.
Photo: Nađa Vukajlović/Danas
“Academic Radomir Saičić was reading a doctoral dissertation…”
“After I voted, I went straight to the students’ campaign headquarters on Bulevar Milutina Milankovića in New Belgrade, where I joined my colleagues. We spent time together and talked. Some of the incoming MPs on the Student List who had other commitments brought doctoral dissertations and undergraduate papers to review. We’ve all been part of one machine for a month and a half or more,” Bakić said.
He went on to describe academic Radomir Saičić reading a doctoral dissertation and occasionally joining their conversation. “He said the doctoral candidate’s job depended on that dissertation, so he had to read it. It was a very special experience. And, of course, it was very optimistic.”
Bakić said some of them had been confident of a clear victory. “I was one of them. We were relatively calm; others were a little more nervous.”
“Then we watched N1 on a tablet, but switched channels when the address by the person who usually likes to make speeches was announced. I wanted to hear everything he had to say, although I usually don’t, but this time I did. I couldn’t, though: the excitement was so great that I couldn’t hear the end of his speech. Then, naturally, we went to the press conference room, where the atmosphere was also good.
“I think the journalists gathered at our headquarters were just as excited as we were. This is a struggle for press freedom, freedom of information and speech, freedom of thought—for a completely different, civilized society,” Bakić said of election night.
“So that we never again find ourselves in a situation where we suffer”
He went on to explain what the election meant to him.
“What we have been living through for the past 14 years, and especially the past two, is sheer brutality. It has nothing to do with a civilized life. The list, which won decisively thanks to our people, has a duty to change the system. I’m convinced it can. We must not disappoint people. I deeply hope we won’t let them down.
“Personally, I’ll do everything I can. I’m sure everyone from our list who enters the National Assembly will do the same to bring about real change to the political system, so that we never again find ourselves in a situation where we suffer. This has been suffering: a great struggle, but suffering all the same. Entire sections of society have suffered—teachers and workers, each in their own way and from their own perspective. This is an abnormal state of affairs, quite apart from the suffering students have endured over the past two years,” Bakić said.
He added that the situation was hard for any ordinary person to comprehend.
“In that sense, we will do everything we can. The most important thing, in my view, is to fight organized crime. We must sever every link between the state and organized crime, and then curb organized crime—which can never be eradicated completely—as much as possible.
“I have a plan. I don’t know whether I’ll be in a position to carry it out or whether someone else will, but whoever does will have my full support and that of my colleagues. The Ministry of the Interior must be thoroughly cleared of criminals and strengthened with professionals. We will also need some retired officers we know to be honorable police officers; they can pass on their knowledge to younger colleagues. This won’t be easy, but with strong political will it is entirely achievable,” he concluded.
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Supplement: the Student List’s 11-point programme
The following is a summary of the 11 points in the Student List’s programme, as reported by N1 on 15 September 2026. They are grouped under three headings in the original programme.
Serbia or the mafia
- Free the courts and prosecution service from political pressure and create a vetted police unit under the prosecution service to investigate corruption and make arrests without political obstruction. Thoroughly review the Interior Ministry and remove officials linked to organised crime; dismiss officers who broke service rules during the crackdown on protesting students and citizens.
- Pass a law on identifying and confiscating illegally acquired wealth and introduce lustration for public officials. Strengthen the Tax Administration to scrutinise officials’ assets and recover misappropriated public money. Hold accountable officials who abused their office, engaged in corruption, or violated human rights, the Constitution or the law.
- Make public procurement fully transparent and audit state projects: publish all contracts and tenders; strengthen the State Audit Institution; review opaque or overpriced infrastructure projects, including secret agreements, special laws and projects completed late.
- Free the media: unblock and depoliticise the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM); restore the public broadcaster RTS to lawful, independent operation; examine the responsibility of journalists and managers at public and private television stations in light of long-term discrimination and hate speech; reassign national broadcasting frequencies and strengthen the Press Council’s oversight of print media.
Knowledge is power
- End party patronage in the public sector. Use strict open competitions and appoint qualified professionals, rather than party loyalists, to lead public companies. End party-based appointments of directors and introduce rigorous financial oversight.
- Modernise education with programmes that develop critical thinking and practical skills. Provide free textbooks to every primary and secondary school student, regardless of residence, and make educational trips and extracurricular activities affordable.
- Build a knowledge-based economy by connecting universities, research institutes and professional associations with industry. Provide substantial grants and subsidies for start-ups, innovation, domestic businesses and farmers, shifting away from a low-wage economic model.
Serbia grows with us
- Amend labour law so the maximum period of fixed-term employment falls from 24 months to 12, after which workers receive permanent contracts.
- Break the import lobby’s monopolies and protect food security. Safeguard agricultural land and water as national assets for current and future generations, and address market practices that distort the relationship between retail and producer prices.
- Make housing affordable for young couples and workers in shortage occupations, including education and health workers, through lower-cost rental and purchase options and tax relief for young families and those employees.
- Make medicines more accessible and ensure every village has a doctor: regulate and sharply reduce medicine prices, restore rural clinics and health centres, and hire young doctors and medical technicians.
Source: Source: N1, 15 September 2026 — details of the Student List’s programme..
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