Non-hierarchical movement is seeking to ‘rebuild society’ in Balkan country after years of authoritarian rule

Serbia’s triumphant but untested Student List movement is preparing to start talks on forming a government capable of reversing 14 years of increasingly authoritarian nationalist rule, after a seismic weekend election win.

Supporters of the movement, which has no experience of government, took to the streets in the west Balkan country on Monday after the strongman former president, Aleksandar Vučić, was defeated in a historic landslide.

Vučić’s 12-year reign looks to have been ended by record turnout of voters in election provoked by student-led protests

The long-serving leader of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has conceded defeat, ushering in a seismic political shift after a historic election that saw ​the increasingly authoritarian leader pitted against a student-led movement that had spent two years protesting against his government.

Vučić pointed to preliminary results that suggested voters had overwhelmingly backed the students, potentially giving them a majority in the country’s 250-seat parliament.