The wider public became aware of Ilija Srdanović, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad, following his sharp speech at the Vidovdan student protest last year. Although he was a candidate for director of the Medical Chamber of Serbia, among many candidates in circulation for the position, very few people expected that the students would decide to make him “first among equals” on the student electoral list.
And as he prepares to join the students on a cycling tour through Vojvodina, in an interview with Radar he clears up a terminological confusion.
“It is true that I am first among equals, but it is not true that I am the list leader. That is a huge difference, and my request is that henceforth, whenever my name is put into any context regarding the Student List, it should be underlined that I am merely first on the list,” Srdanović points out. He also says he was pleasantly surprised that he was given the honour of being placed first on the list by the students in the final selection, and that it goes without saying that is also a huge obligation.
How were your earlier contacts with the students? Aside from unquestionable support, it seems you also have a rather closer relationship with them. Footage of you waking them up with a whistle went viral.
The relationship with the students and the closeness with them, with their ideas, the nobility of their movement, is not a connection that only began after the tragic fall of the canopy. Spontaneity and openness in communication have existed ever since I became a professor at the Faculty of Medicine. It is normal that in a crisis situation this connection becomes more visible. They say that friends are best found in a crisis; we found friends in one another, and that is something that has carried me all this time. The footage you mention came about spontaneously; I was quite exhausted, it was a cold night… Those were students from Belgrade. I remembered the times when I was a boy in elementary school, and when Duško Radović and his radio show Good Morning, Belgrade, used to start with that anthological track.
You said that the youth have sent a message that they want to change the country, to make it better, that they were making it and have already made it better now; marching with bloody blisters on their feet, touring the entire country, pedalling across hills and valleys and sharing the idea of freedom with the entire nation. How do you now see your role as the first on the list?
I wouldn’t give excessive importance to myself. Naturally, the students have been in the foreground from day one.
But whatever you do will be in the foreground.
Perhaps in some people’s eyes that will be the case, but what I want to say is that both we and our generation tried to make Serbia better and freer and we did not succeed.
Things are not quite like that; your generation managed to overthrow Milošević. Is the responsibility on others to finish up things that were left unfinished?
I agree, we did a lot but no matter how much good we did, we did not do enough. We did not bring things to an end; perhaps a story begun that was not seen through to the end remains, historically unrecognized, unfortunately. The difference is that what is happening now has been initiated by educated young people who love their country. Therefore, those from whom it is expected. My role was to be the glue. In science, that can be a catalyst. Upright professors catalysed the reaction of the students. Otherwise, students are often accused of being rigid. No, they aren’t; we talked the whole time. They asked us to pass on our life experiences, and that is the only thing they lack. They have everything else. And most importantly, they have a future. In communicating with us, they recognised that lack of experience, and in us, that catalytic role to pass on to them that single thing they are lacking.
Were the students at certain moments, nonetheless, inflexible in their detachment from those who have been fighting against this regime for more than a decade? Moreover, I don’t just mean opposition parties, but also people from ProGlas and critically minded people from public life?
I agree that some people may have experienced it that way. I never experienced it that way, and I never felt such an attitude. Let’s not forget that the students were dominantly connected with their teachers whom they trusted, with whom they spent days and nights, with whom they went through a very critical period for almost two years. If there was perhaps any detachment, it is the result of insufficient familiarity with all those people. They knew us personally, by our name, and through our work and everyday coexistence. And they trusted us just as we trust them.
Students have published an 11-point programme, ranging from freeing prosecutors and judges from political influence, through an asset-origin law and lustration, to incentives for farmers and measures in education. What will your first move be if you win?
Our first move will be to create a society based on justice, in which the law is upheld; all other measures will follow from that. Without justice, the rule of law, respect for rights and equality before the law, there can be no further steps.
The prerequisite for what you are talking about – and a word you often use when speaking about Aleksandar Vučić – is accountability. How will you bring to justice those who have broken the law?
The president is one of the six or seven million inhabitants of this country and is no more equal than anyone else in Serbia. All the same rules will apply to President Vučić as to every other citizen. If he has broken the law, he will be held accountable.
What will the fight against widespread corruption look like if it is up to you?
My colleagues and the students who took part in drafting the programme have explained in detail how this fight will be conducted through points 1 and 2. The prerequisites will be the adoption of the necessary secondary legislation and strict compliance with the laws already in force, starting with the Constitution and the Law on the Examination of the Origin of Property…
How do you envisage a lustration law? Many people point out that this is a sensitive issue.
We did not regard lustration as a sensitive issue at all. No one who has not broken the law should be afraid of such a law, particularly public officials who have remained “clean”. Those who should be afraid of lustration are people who have plundered public enterprises and, through corruption, appropriated the country’s wealth for their own benefit. Those people should think very carefully about their position.
What will the fight against widespread corruption look like if it is up to you?
My colleagues and the students who took part in drafting the programme have explained in detail how this fight will be conducted through points 1 and 2. The prerequisites will be the adoption of the necessary secondary legislation and strict compliance with the laws already in force, starting with the Constitution and the Law on the Examination of the Origin of Property…
How do you envisage a lustration law? Many people point out that this is a sensitive issue.
We did not regard lustration as a sensitive issue at all. No one who has not broken the law should be afraid of such a law, particularly public officials who have remained “clean”. Those who should be afraid of lustration are people who have plundered public enterprises and, through corruption, appropriated the country’s wealth for their own benefit. Those people should think very carefully about their position.
In your view, what will the campaign look like? We have had several opportunities to see what the authorities are prepared to do to avoid accountability.
The campaign began on the day we announced part of the Students’ List in the square in Novi Sad, together with the 11-point plan, which was published several days later. We have now entered the first part of the campaign, in which we will once again walk and cycle across Serbia. We will endeavour to reach every citizen, or as many as possible of those who have not had an opportunity to hear us, so that after talking to us and hearing our plan for what Serbia will look like, they can make their decision about how they will vote.
We will go from door to door, organise public meetings and large gatherings. Each member of the list has been given a role in this effort.
What do you expect from the authorities? Are you aware that you and the other candidates will be subjected to a media campaign aimed at vilifying you? After all, a special programme has already been devoted to targeting you.
We are not interested at all in what the group of people who have committed various misdeeds have to say. Our aim is not to wallow in the mud and run that kind of campaign. Our campaign is about presenting our programme and turning our attention to citizens. We will make sure it focuses on the programme we have devised, rather than looking back at people who are already so far behind us. No little truck or little aeroplane will ever be faster than our feet and bicycles.
Speaking as a human being, don’t you feel the need to respond to accusations that you are a thug and a shirker?
From where I currently stand, I feel no need to respond to anything. My students, colleagues, family and neighbours know me, and nothing that appears in some mud-slinging campaign will change that.
How do you view the fact that most opposition parties have withdrawn and supported the Students’ List, thereby bringing the country closer to a referendum-like atmosphere?
Even when we embarked on this campaign, we did not concern ourselves with other political actors. They make their own decisions, and we do not concern ourselves with them, nor are we interested in the reasons why someone might enter the race. We are grateful to those who have supported us, and we wish the others good luck.
What will election night look like, and do you expect Vučić to concede defeat if he loses the election, or are we in for dramatic events?
Through its campaign, the student movement is sending a message that it is committed to peace and the country’s prosperity. We are prepared to defend every vote and have secured a sufficient number of polling-station observers. We will be able to monitor the voting process at all polling stations across the country.
We will also endeavour to create an atmosphere in which it will be impossible for the scenes that have previously led to results failing to reflect the will of the citizens to be repeated. We do not want to speculate about what will happen. We want the election to take place as required by law and, most importantly, for the results to reflect the genuine wishes of the electorate.
You said you would defend the results using all means permitted by law. Does that include taking to the streets and holding protests?
I cannot say in advance that such things will happen, but we will defend the election results.
You already had an experience with the police in February 2025, when you were summoned for questioning after a speech. Do you expect the authorities to use the repressive apparatus and criminals during the campaign in order to remain in power?
I was not detained at the time; that is a media spin. I was invited to give a statement as a citizen in connection with an entirely different proceeding. I would like to thank the officers of the Petrovaradin Police Administration for their professionalism and for carrying out their part of the job properly. I suffered no personal consequences at the time, nor was I treated as a defendant.
On the other hand, I have personally experienced the repressive apparatus as a citizen of Novi Sad at a large number of protests I attended. I saw repression directed at my friends, colleagues, students and neighbours… I witnessed aggression by people in police and gendarmerie uniforms. I hope they really were police officers, although they clearly exceeded the bounds of what is permitted by law. Working as a doctor in the emergency medical service, unfortunately, I provided medical assistance to injured citizens in clashes initiated by people wearing police uniforms.
You have experience of local elections in 10 municipalities and cities where the authorities used violence. Do you expect the same at parliamentary elections?
I was a direct witness to the electoral process and what was happening there, because I was present as an observer at the elections in Sečanj and Kula. That is why I am convinced that wherever there are observers and polling-station controllers, there will be no vote-rigging, or it will be reduced to a minimum. I am certain that in Sečanj and Kula we protected every vote, and that is why the results were what they were.
If you win, who will decide whom to entrust with the mandate to form the Government, and are you counting on bringing in other people from outside the list who have established themselves in their professions?
The members of the newly formed assembly will grant the mandate to form the Government. Among our 250 people there are certainly many experts in different fields, and we could form more than one government. The majority of the assembly’s delegates will decide who takes which position and which office. That is all I can say at this point. As for whether there will be post-election coalition agreements, we will see once the elections are over.
After the victory you say you have no doubt about, is the Students’ List’s plan to create the conditions for free and fair elections? Will your mandate be limited?
Our mandate will last for as long as necessary to create the conditions for institutions to function and finally restore order to the country. It is easy to state a maximum; the minimum is harder to define.
Did you factor the possibility of defeat into the electoral equation, and what situation would Serbia find itself in then?
The Student List – Students Win, as its name states – has a clear message: students are winning. And that applies to all future elections. Personally, I cannot imagine any other outcome, and there will be no other outcome.
So you are convinced you will win?
I am absolutely convinced.
What do you base your optimism on?
On the information we have. The surveys and information we have gathered indicate that we are winning. I do not come from an environment of losers at all. My late grandfather came from America to Serbia in 1918 to win and to liberate Serbia. As his descendant, I am obliged to fight for this country at all costs and to liberate it. And this young generation will liberate it.
Vučić has invited you to a TV debate on two occasions, and you replied that you would not even consider it. Why, and are there any circumstances under which you would agree to such a confrontation? There is no doubt that dialogue, which the authorities have driven out, needs to be brought back into civilised society. How can this be achieved?
We have our plan. It includes talking to people who have something to say. If necessary, our candidates will engage in debates with rival candidates so that we can see whose programme is better. But we have nothing to discuss with that particular candidate because he is not an expert in any of the subjects in question. Our leading experts in their respective fields will engage in discussions with members of the Serbian Progressive Party. But there is no subject on which we could have a discussion with that particular gentleman.
You have said that you do not intend to give up your profession. Do you see yourself in politics in the long term?
I certainly will not leave my profession. I will be a doctor for the rest of my life, as will my colleagues on the list, because we swore an oath to do so. And as we speak, I am a doctor. I have never been involved in politics in any way, and I will continue to practise my profession.
But do you nevertheless see yourself in politics?
Life and everything around us is a kind of politics. If my role for the rest of my life is to prevent the creation of another cult of personality, then the answer is yes. Our most important struggle is to restore rights and justice for everyone.
(Radar, 24.09.2026)
https://radar.nova.rs/politika/ilija-srdanovic-pobedu-doneti-na-tabanima/