BELGRADE – On Sunday, university students across Serbia mobilized to gather signatures nationwide, advocating for early parliamentary elections aimed at removing President Aleksandar Vucic’s government from power.

Undeterred by the freezing weather, these students erected nearly 500 stands in various cities, towns, and villages throughout the Balkan nation. While the signature collection is not an official petition, students have stated that this initiative is designed to increase pressure on Vucic and gauge public support.

The youth have been leading a widespread movement against Vucic’s populist administration in Serbia, sparked by a tragic train station incident that claimed 16 lives in November 2024, marking the beginning of over a year of street demonstrations.

The collapse of a concrete canopy in Novi Sad, a northern city, was attributed to alleged corruption and negligence of safety and construction standards during station renovations. To date, no individuals have been held accountable for the disaster.

Although Vucic has resisted calls for an immediate election, he has hinted that elections might take place next year, despite both parliamentary and presidential elections being scheduled for 2027.

“We have set up stands to engage with the citizens,” explained Igor Dojnov, a student stationed at one of the points in central Belgrade.

Youth-led protests during the past year have shaken Vucic more than ever during his 13-year-long tenure. Serbia’s populist prime minister resigned in January, and Vucic later launched a crackdown on protesters that also drew international criticism.

While street protests have subsided, discontent with Vucic’s government is believed to be widespread.

Milca Cankovic Kadijevic, a resident of Belgrade, said that she supported the students, because “I have a desire to live decently — me, my children and my grandchildren.”

Vucic has formally promised to take Serbia into the European Union, but he has maintained close links with Russia and China, while facing accusations of clamping down on democratic freedoms and allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish.

He has denied this, and accused the protesters of attempting to orchestrate a “color revolution” under unspecified orders from the West. The term “color revolution” has been used to describe a series of mass protests at the beginning of the 21st century that sometimes led to the toppling of governments in the former Soviet Union states, the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Asia.