Unlike the list of the ruling coalition, which carries the identical name in all 10 municipalities where local elections are being held on 29 March, the students’ list will not have the same name in any of the places.
Because of this, the student movement has been criticised by opposition politicians, while analysts are asking whether the movement is even “unified or rather a collection of several groups that are loosely connected”.
The list of the ruling coalition SNS–SPS in all 10 municipalities includes in its name the name of the country’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, followed by the name of the municipality and the message: “Our Family”. On the other hand, the electoral student list has a different name in all 10 places:
“The Voice of Youth of the Municipality of Kula”
“Students for Aranđelovac – Youth Wins”
“Heal the System – So That Palanka Can Recover”
“Bor, Our Responsibility”
“We Decide! – Dr Damjan Stevkić”
“Kladovo Has Us – Time for Change”
“Knjaževac with Students – Clean List – Dr Ivan Milošević”
“One Team, the Sound of Justice – Together for Students”
“United for Bajina Bašta”
“United – Sevojno”
The most similar names in Bajina Bašta and Sevojno
As can be seen, the student list has the most similar name in two municipalities that are geographically close – Bajina Bašta and Sevojno. In the other eight municipalities, there are almost no significant similarities in the names of the lists, apart from the occasional mention of the terms “students” and “youth”.
Ješić: The basics of election theory
For this reason, among others, Goran Ješić, president of the Solidarity movement, reacted on the X network and proposed four steps which he called “The Basics of Election Theory”:
- “The name of the electoral list must either be the name of the party or the slogan ‘your hands are bloody’, the same everywhere.”
- “The slogan should be promoted everywhere”
- “The submission of the electoral lists to the authorities should be done by experienced lawyers with knowledge of the process.”
- “Citizens’ group lists should be used.”
- “The list should never be called ‘Pump It’ or anything similar.”
Gogić: Does the student movement have unity?
Political scientist Ognjen Gogić assessed for Blic that the student movement could have used the upcoming local elections to introduce a “universal name for the list that it would brand in such a way that when it is mentioned, it would be known that students stand behind it”.
“For example, personally I did not know that students stand behind the list ‘United – Sevojno’. On the other hand, it is possible that each local organisation chose a name that reflects local specificities and circumstances. Perhaps one name works better in one municipality than in another,” Gogić analyses.
As he says, local elections also represent psychological preparation for parliamentary elections.
“After everything, the question also arises as to whether the student movement is unified at all. Or is the movement a scattered collection of several groups that are loosely connected?” Gogić asks.
Parun: The Belgrade central leadership is not strong or astute enough, or…
Political scientist Nikola Parun thinks in a similar way.
“Clearly, the Belgrade central leadership of the student movement is not strong or astute enough to impose a single name for the student list in all local elections. Or it has left it to local organisations to decide on the name of the list themselves,” Parun states.
However, he reminds that in not all 10 municipalities are students alone on the electoral list.
“There are also groups of citizens that are undoubtedly opposition-oriented, as well as certain parties. In my opinion, a bigger problem for the student movement than the name of the list will be phantom lists that have names similar to the student list. That will make it more difficult for older fellow citizens to recognise the student list,” Parun concludes.
(Blic, 09.03.2026)