Polls have opened in a Serbian election pitting a student-led protest movement against populist leader Aleksandar Vucic

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbians are voting Sunday in a parliamentary election that is seen as a showdown between the Balkan country’s populist leader Aleksandar Vucic and a movement of university students who led protests against him for almost two years. Though Serbia’s 6.4 million voters get to choose from 18 parties hoping to enter the 250-member Parliament, the election has taken shaped as a referendum between Vucic’s right-wing Serbian Progressive Party and the youth-backed Students’ List. The main contenders are believed to be polling neck-and-neck, making Sunday’s election the most uncertain in recent years.

Turnout is expected to be high and could push most smaller parties below the 3% threshold needed to make it into the assembly. While Vucic has routinely outplayed Serbia’s fractured opposition in the past, the leaderless youth movement has proved to be a tough opponent that rattled his firm grip on power in Serbia like no one else could in the past 14 years since his party took office. A students’ victory likely would resonate beyond Serbia as countries across Europe face youth and student protests.

The vote is closely watched in the EU Recent elections have been marred by irregularities and the European Union is watching closely the conduct of Sunday’s vote in a candidate nation for the bloc’s membership. Both international and local election monitors already have expressed concern about the safety and fairness of an election campaign marked by detentions, near-total government control over the media and reports of surveillance and cyberattacks against activists. Local elections earlier this year in 10 municipalities in Serbia saw violent attacks on journalists and activists.

The previous parliamentary vote in 2023 was followed by opposition protests alleging fraud. Vucic wants to return as prime minister If his SNS party wins the most votes, Vucic will become the prime minister after serving two near-full terms as president. He resigned the presidency last month to lead the campaign.

The populists’ popularity has eroded since 16 people were killed two years ago when a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s north, setting off a wave of youth protests that demanded accountability for the disaster and justice for the victims. The anger reflected widespread accusations of high-level corruption and cronyism. He resigned the presidency last month to lead the campaign.The populists' popularity has eroded since 16 people were killed two years ago when a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia's north, setting off a wave of youth protests that demanded accountability for the disaster and justice for the victims.The anger reflected widespread accusations of high-level corruption and cronyism.

Protesters said that rampant graft…