A leaderless movement now faces the task of choosing a prime minister
The Guardian’s Today in Focus episode on Serbia reports that candidates on the Student List defeated Aleksandar Vučić at the ballot box. The result followed two years of protests by student activists whose demonstrations, The Guardian said, rocked the Balkan country.
Record numbers of people went to the polls on Sunday, according to the podcast, and voted to end the 12-year rule of Aleksandar Vučić.
Voters backed a candidate list put forward by student activists, half of whom have PhDs, according to The Guardian. The episode examines how that list managed to defeat Vučić’s increasingly authoritarian regime.
The Guardian said, “Serbia’s political landscape has been upended.” The podcast’s account attributes the result to a movement built through two years of student-led protest and a candidate list selected by those activists.
Presented by Helen Pidd, the episode features Ana Milosavljevic, identified as a Serbian-American journalist; Tara Blagojević, identified as a student activist; and Milica Jovanović, identified as an MP-to-be. The Guardian says the conversation examines how the Student List managed to defeat Vučić.
The discussion focuses on how a leaderless protest movement moves from defeating a long-serving leader to governing the country. The Guardian’s episode description asks whether the movement can choose a prime minister and run a country.
The episode description ends with the question: “With victory secured, the hard part begins: how does a leaderless movement choose a prime minister and run a country?” The Guardian’s account leaves the electoral outcome settled but the government-formation process unresolved.
The podcast is produced by Tom Glasser, Hanna Adan, Claudia Efemini and Brian McNamara, with Eli Block as executive producer. The Guardian says the episode is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and an RSS feed.