“Russia and Serbia — brothers forever!” 

This slogan could once be seen on billboards and murals everywhere in Serbia. The intertwined Serbian and Russian flags, with the same colors arranged in a different order, looked so similar that people in Russia often confused them.

Then there was the historical affection for the “Russian brothers.” The Russian White emigres of the 1920s left behind not only descendants, some of whom still speak beautiful Russian, but also their mark on the country's art and architecture. Yet on the morning after the parliamentary elections, the future of the brotherhood looked increasingly uncertain.

On October 20, Serbia held snap parliamentary elections. Snap elections have been frequent here since 2012, when the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) defeated the Democratic Party, which had governed, either alone or in coalition, since the 2000 Bulldozer Revolution that overthrew Slobodan Milošević.

Aleksandar Vučić quickly became the face of the SNS. First as prime minister — Serbia has a semi-presidential system — and then president, before resigning in September, a year before the end of his second term. The party was simply known as Vučić's party, and his resignation was intended to facilitate a political reshuffle similar to the one in Russia in 2011. While he could not remain president after serving two terms, the governing party or coalition could appoint the same person prime minister as many times as it liked.

The snap elections themselves became necessary because the protests simply would not die down. Two years ago, a canopy collapsed at the recently renovated railway station in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, including a child.

The protests became known as student protests, although they involved far more than students at local universities. In fact, the name caught on after police broke up a memorial gathering organized by students from the University of Belgrade for the victims of the disaster.

Students played an important role in the movement, both symbolically and organizationally. Many events were conceived and discussed in university classrooms. And although most activists belonged to what could broadly be described as Serbia's educated class, the movement also included or received support from substantial numbers of bikers, military veterans, farmers and workers.

It was a genuinely nationwide movement bringing together everyone who had grown tired of corruption and the dominance of the SNS, without joining which it was difficult to get a job even as a village mail carrier.

Voter turnout was unprecedented in the history of modern Serbia. According to preliminary figures available when this article was being prepared, it reached 68.78%.

The results were equally astonishing. According to the preliminary results published by the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), the SNS-led coalition, “Aleksandar Vučić — United Serbia,” won 39.28% of the vote. “The Student List,” a coalition of the leaderless student movement and several opposition parties, received 52.55% (2,215,901 votes).

No other parties entered parliament apart from small ethnic minority parties, which are exempt from the 3% electoral threshold.

Predictions remained uncertain until the very last moment. Pro-government sources forecast victory for Vučić, while independent sources favored the students.........

© The Moscow Times