Student List Serbia elections: supporters clean up Pioneers Park after victory
The morning after the Student List won Serbia's parliamentary elections, hundreds of volunteers joined municipal workers to clean Pioneers Park in Belgrade, clearing the remains of the pro-government Ćaciland camp that had occupied the spot opposite the national assembly for 18 months.
Student List Serbia elections: supporters clean up Pioneers Park after victory
The morning after the Student List won Serbia's parliamentary elections, volunteers with bin bags appeared opposite the national assembly in Belgrade. What had been the pro-government Ćaciland camp for 18 months became a belgrade clean-up site, as supporters of the winning list set about restoring Pioneers Park.
From Ćaciland to bin bags
For the previous 18 months, Pioneers Park – with its established trees and playground – had been occupied by the pro-government camp known as Ćaciland, with convicted criminals living in white tents.
- Residents of the camp attacked journalists and anyone else who came too close, while police stood by but did nothing to prevent the violence.
- Half an hour before the polls closed on election night, large numbers of masked, black-clad men started gathering in and around Pioneers Park.
- Riot police then stood aside, the barriers around the park were removed, and Student List supporters joyfully ransacked Ćaciland, setting fire to some of the tents.
Pre-poll predictions had been that the governing Serbian Progressive party (SNS) would not hand over power without a struggle.
Vučić concedes before projections
That struggle never came. Shortly after polls closed, and before any result projections had been published, Aleksandar Vučić told supporters at SNS headquarters that they had suffered a comprehensive defeat to the Student List.
Vučić said he did not want unrest or anything like that on the streets.
Volunteers answer the call
The appeal to restore the park drew on habit. Over the two years of anti-corruption protests that led to the Student List's victory, participants had always cleaned up after themselves.
Hundreds of people answered the call, joining municipal workers to remove the remains of Ćaciland, dismantle the tents, and clean and disinfect the playground equipment.
Among them was Radomir Dalic, who combed the grass for cigarette butts and said he was overjoyed the park was finally rid of criminals with violent intentions towards us.
"We are in garbage, but it's the smell of freedom."
Tamara Tomic, wearing yellow rubber gloves, said the clean-up showed what the movement wants: "We want to enjoy the city, enjoy a normal life without violence and without anyone torturing us."
The cacophony of car horns continued throughout Monday as drivers passed the clean-up crew in Pioneers Park.
A leaderless list faces governing
Winning an election is one thing; forming a government may be another. The Student List operates unlike a traditional party. It has no hierarchy and no leader, and its candidates were chosen by a series of student assemblies, with nominations ranging from academics to athletes, economists to engineers.
Ilija Srdanović, ranked first on the list, is a cardiologist at the university in Novi Sad – the city where a deadly roof collapse sparked the student protests. He has protested alongside students since the early days, but said his ranking did not mean he would become prime minister.
"The student movement is fully democratic."
The aim, Srdanović said, was to buck Serbia's history of creating a cult of personality or leadership. He insisted the 250 candidates on the list were equal subjects in this struggle, with numerous candidates who could be chosen for prime minister.
The movement did go into the elections without naming a candidate for prime minister, let alone a possible cabinet. It did, however, publish an 11-point plan covering mostly anti-corruption measures, plus judicial reform, media freedom, affordable housing and better healthcare access – including a promise of "a doctor in every village".
What the list has not laid out is foreign policy, and outside observers have flagged the gap.
- Kurt Bassuener, co-founder of the Democratization Policy Council, said he was concerned about what the lack of structure might mean when the euphoria of victory died down.
- Bassuener warned that the danger of a broad coalition like this is that the fissures will show soon after victory.
- Michael Davenport, a former EU and UK ambassador to Serbia, noted that no seas of EU flags were seen at demonstrations by students or the marches across Serbia, and said the approach towards accession to the European Union is not clear, nor is the position on regional issues such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and particularly Kosovo – massive policy areas lacking consensus.
- Vučić, for his part, warned that a Student List government would impose sanctions on Russia and recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence.
Bassuener, at least, holds out hope for the new majority. "I'm hoping that there is a dream scenario plan here – they have portfolios and people who have credibility in particular issue areas," he said.
The clean-up continued through Monday, with drivers sounding their horns as they passed the volunteers in Pioneers Park, while the questions over how a leaderless list of 250 equal candidates will form a government remain open.
