// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Student movement takes Serbia's Vučić to the wire in neck-and-neck election
The Student List is Number 3 on Serbia's ballot paper, so the figure seen being hugged by this supporter has become a symbol of the movement's fight for change
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.
What you need to know about Serbia's pivotal election
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.
Ilija Srdanović tops the Student List's 250 candidates but would not necessarily lead Serbia if they won
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.