The leading topic in the media in the Republic of North Macedonia today is the victory of the Student List in the parliamentary elections in Serbia and the second place for the previously ruling Serbian Progressive Party, BTA reported.
„Serbia: „Student List“ ended the 14-year rule of the SNS (Serbian Progressive Party) and won an absolute majority”, „The Serbian student movement was born from the tragedy in Novi Sad and two years later overthrew Vucic”, „Tens of thousands gathered last night at „Slavia” Square in Belgrade to celebrate the victory of the Student List”, Vučić admitted his defeat: We lost these elections”, “The end of the Vučić era or the end of politics?”, “Serbia celebrates, but fear also appears: “Vučić admitted his defeat too quickly, perhaps a dangerous maneuver is being prepared!”. These are some of the headlines in the press in North Macedonia.
The media writes about the majority with which the Student List won the elections in the country neighboring North Macedonia and “ended the 14-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party”.
“The Student List does not have a single dominant political leader, and among its 250 candidates there are doctors, university professors, lawyers, economists, actors, athletes and activists, most of whom have never held high government positions (...) But the first place on the electoral list does not mean a candidacy for prime minister (...) One of the peculiarities is that the students who organized the protests did not place themselves in the most prominent positions, but rather, over more than a year of student plenums, blockades and talks, they chose candidates whom they believed could take responsibility for the institutions”, the newspaper writes “Independent”.
The publication recalls that the Student List was officially founded in September by a group of 14 people, mostly university professors, and collected over 70,000 signatures to submit the list to the Republican Election Commission, with the main idea “to build a political option that does not depend on a single leader”.
“Vučić said that his party won about 1.7 million votes, and the Student List about 2.2 million. However, this portends a much more unstable government”, writes Provereno.mk.
”On Sunday evening, a large number of citizens spontaneously gathered on Freedom Square in Novi Sad to celebrate the victory of the Student List in the parliamentary elections in Serbia. The celebration began after the address of Aleksandar Vučić, who admitted the defeat of his political party, provoking violent reactions among citizens (...) The place of the celebration has a special symbolism. On the same square, just a week earlier, Vučić held a pre-election rally, which was also supported by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Now citizens have gathered in the same place to celebrate the reverse result of the elections. Some wonder whether such a quick admission could be part of a political maneuver, but so far there is no confirmed information pointing to such a scenario”, writes Prv.mk.
“After two presidential terms, this absolute master of all political and public life in Serbia, according to Serbian constitutional norms, was not entitled to run for this position for a third time, so he tried to carry out the so-called “Putin maneuver“ – move from the presidential post back to the prime minister's chair. "Without success," Prizma.mk writes in its analysis.
The publication defines the results of the elections in Serbia as a "political earthquake."
With 96 percent of the protocols processed in the parallel counting of votes in the parliamentary elections in Serbia, the Student List won 140 seats, and the Serbian Progressive Party, whose list leader is former President Aleksandar Vučić - 103 seats, announced the non-governmental organization Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID). These are the only parties that have overcome the three percent barrier, as required by the law on the election of national representatives. In addition to them, several minority parties will enter the new composition of the Serbian parliament. Voter turnout yesterday was 69.3 percent.