From the streets to the ballot box: What Hungary can teach Serbia

Serbia heads toward an October 18 election shaped by nearly two years of student-led mobilisation that followed the November 2024 Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse. Analysts are looking to Hungary, where Péter Magyar's Tisza Party unseated Viktor Orbán's Fidesz in April 2026 after sixteen years, for lessons on converting street protest into ballot results.

The comparison points to organisational lessons: Tisza built local networks called Tisza Szigetek, courted disaffected government voters rather than only its base, and worked to convince citizens the ruling party could actually be beaten. Serbia's ruling party retains a substantial edge in media reach, state resources and institutional control, the piece notes, meaning any translation of civic energy into votes faces a much steeper organisational climb than mere enthusiasm can cover.

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