Student movement takes Serbia's Vučić to the wire in neck-and-neck election

If Sunday's parliamentary elections really are a battle for the heart of Serbia, then who better than a cardiologist to be one of the leading figures in the race.

Ilija Srdanović appears an unlikely opponent for Serbia's long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić, arriving for an interview by motorbike sporting a fluorescent yellow jacket emblazoned with pro-student slogans.

He has been selected as top candidate for an opposition movement posing the most serious challenge to Vučić since the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) entered government in 2012.

The Student List has emerged from almost two years of anti-corruption protests led by young Serbians, outraged by the deaths of 16 people when a railway station's canopy collapsed in Serbia's second city Novi Sad.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at the country's university faculties have chosen 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election, with Srdanović, professor at Novi Sad University, heading the list.

"It is absolutely normal to stand with my students to help them in their fair struggle," Srdanović told the BBC.

The Student List is up against a Serbian leader who has served successively as deputy prime minister, prime minister and president since 2012. When he called these snap elections last month, he stood down as president to run again for the role of prime minister.

Whatever Vučić's title, there has never been any doubt that he was the man in charge – an image enthusiastically promoted by Serbia's largely uncritical media.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)