Europe’s voters keep throwing leaders out. Who has the answers?

Vucic’s defeat reflects a deeper frustration with establishments across the political spectrum Sunday’s snap Serbian parliamentary elections have delivered a bombshell as former President Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat. Hardly anyone seems to have seriously expected that. Calling the election was a gamble, of course, but he still had reason to believe he could pull it off. The reasons will take time to untangle. Vucic himself spoke of a “revolution” backed by Europe.

Others, with some justification, see an “Orban scenario” : accumulated fatigue with one man’s prolonged rule, during which his personal traits and interests came to exert too much influence over national policy. Clearly, more than one factor was at work. Just as clearly, Serbia is entering a new era. Vucic’s increasingly elaborate and convoluted balancing act will likely give way to an attempt to steer the country sharply toward the European Union. Hungary’s experience is telling in this respect. And Russia should expect little good to come of it. Serbian society, however, is different from Hungary’s. There really is considerable sympathy for Russia. Whether that sentiment can rally a new opposition, this time against a firmly pro-EU…