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Serbian and Hungarian Leaders Ousted by Popular Movements

Student and opposition groups in Serbia and Hungary led mass mobilizations that ended both leaders' rule.

New York Editorial News Desk October 31, 2026 1 min read

The Brief

  • Serbian President Vučiċ and Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán both lost power in 2024.
  • Student-led movements in Serbia and Tisza party in Hungary won decisive election victories.
  • Both movements used tech-savvy young people and election monitors to combat fraud.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučiċ and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán were both ousted from power in 2024 by popular movements. Orbán fell first in April, defeated by Péter Magyar's Tisza party. Vučiċ followed last Sunday after a student-led movement won a landslide in Serbia's parliamentary elections.

The Tisza party in Hungary and the Student List in Serbia, though different in structure, were driven by young, tech-savvy activists. Both groups used AI tools to analyze data, identify threats, and organize thousands of election monitors to prevent intimidation and fraud.

Election monitors played a key role in both countries' opposition victories. In Hungary, the DE civic action group sent 70 monitors to Serbia to work with student activists, sharing methods from the Hungarian election. They identified 'infected' polling districts where voter intimidation or fraud was suspected.

During Serbia's election, masked hooligans were reported near polling stations, but mobile teams and stationary monitors deterred them. The head of the Student List, Ilija Srdanović, said the movement's methods were inspired by Hungary's Tisza party, which won 140 seats in the 250-seat Serbian parliament, the same number Péter Magyar's Tisza party won in the 199-seat Hungarian parliament.

Both leaders, Orbán and Vučiċ, had been in power for over a decade and were accused of corruption and abuse of power. Their judicial systems, including Serbia's JTOK and Hungary's NVVH, have similar powers and could be used to investigate their cases. Orbán and Vučiċ had previously discussed business deals, including the planned Hungarian purchase of Serbia's Nis oil refinery.

The collapse of the station's canopy on 1 November 2024, blamed on corruption and negligence, killed 16 people and is believed to have inspired the Serbian student movement. Magyar was the only European leader to ring the students directly to congratulate them, suggesting a close relationship between the two movements.

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