Miloš Bešić, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, said that the constitution of Serbia’s newly elected parliament, following the electoral victory of the Student List, marks the beginning of a lengthy process that will present major challenges for the incoming government at multiple levels.
Speaking on Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), Bešić said the first challenge would be the functioning of parliament, predicting that the former ruling coalition, now in opposition, would adopt an aggressive and confrontational approach, continuing to challenge the legitimacy of the new government and its political direction through what he described as familiar rhetoric and insults.
He stressed that the more substantial task would come afterward, as the Student List’s programme represents an ambitious effort to rebuild the country’s institutional system.
“Essentially, this is about establishing a system that rejects what was, in practice, a party-controlled state characterised by an pronounced model of authoritarian rule. There will be numerous challenges in this process, and we will have to see how representatives of the Student List address them,” Bešić said.
He added that the new authorities would also face major challenges in domestic and foreign policy, the economy and the ability of state institutions to respond to pressing issues, including the situation surrounding the Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) and the stability of the Serbian dinar.
Bešić said it would be particularly important to see what political positions and concrete policies the Student List and the expected new government adopt. He expressed confidence that a new government could be formed considerably faster than the legally stipulated 90-day deadline.
According to the professor, Serbia has experienced an intensive process of state capture by a single political party over the past 14 years. He argued that the country now has a clear political alternative seeking to end that practice for the first time, although dismantling the existing system will be extremely difficult.
Even if state institutions cooperate with the new authorities, Bešić warned that the existing system has developed an institutional inertia in which decisions are traditionally made by the ruling party and its central authority before being implemented through hierarchical structures, frequently in violation of the law or close to its legal boundaries.
He identified dismantling this system as the Student List’s most important responsibility and the task most closely connected to the public mandate it received from voters.
Bešić: SNS Would Suffer a Crushing Defeat in Presidential Elections
Bešić also warned the Student List against allowing a new political party to replace the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) only to eventually establish another system of state capture.
“The habit of one party replacing another, then capturing the state, only for another party to come along and repeat the same process, must be avoided. Ending this form of party control over the state, in the way the students have envisioned, is the greatest achievement that could emerge from the changes we are experiencing,” he said.
Commenting on the upcoming presidential elections, Bešić suggested that the SNS could even withdraw from the race because it lacks a suitable candidate and would face a crushing defeat.
He argued that the party had built an authoritarian system in which one individual makes all the key decisions, leaving no alternative candidates for the country’s most important political positions.
Even if the SNS had won the parliamentary elections, Bešić said, it would still have faced difficulties finding a suitable presidential candidate.
He predicted that the party’s strategy would instead focus on obstructing and undermining the work of the incoming authorities.
According to Bešić, rather than addressing allegations of irregularities, such as allegedly manipulated public tenders and payments for work that was never completed, the SNS would likely resort to accusing Student List representatives of betraying the Serbian people and portraying them as part of foreign conspiracies.
He advised the Student List to respond to such attacks by strictly respecting the law and ensuring that all alleged wrongdoing from the previous period is investigated and prosecuted.
Bešić argued that this approach would significantly weaken the arguments used by the former ruling party against the new authorities.
