Niš was as a stronghold of the SPS in this period, with the party holding fifty-six out of seventy seats in the city assembly after the December 1992 campaign.
[5] Ilić was often portrayed as a powerful political boss in Niš during his tenure as mayor, and he was sometimes accused of creating a cult of personality around himself through his control of the local media.
[6] American journalist Chris Hedges, among others, depicted Ilić as having become a "widely unpopular" figure by late 1996 due to corruption and his association with Milošević.
Even the Yugoslav Left (Jugoslovenska Levica, JUL), a party broadly aligned with the SPS, accused the local administration of abusing the democratic procedure.
Ilić disappeared from public view during the protests and resigned as leader of the Niš SPS on 4 December 1996, amid speculation that he was being scapegoated for the party's failures.
[14][15] In January 1997, the Serbian government recognized the opposition's victory in Niš; Ilić was expelled from the SPS at around the same time[16] and withdrew from political life in the city.
While online sources do not confirm this point, it may be reasonably inferred that Ilić also resigned his seat in the Yugoslavian assembly during this time (or, alternately, that he did not take his mandate following the 1996 election).
Interviewed by Politika about the events of 1996, he was quoted as saying, "Time has shown that I was right and that nothing attributed to me is true, so this is a kind of political rehabilitation, which would be said, at a high level.
[23][24] As at the republic level, the For a European Serbia alliance formed a coalition government with the SPS, and Ilić returned to his previous role as president of the assembly (which had been separated from the office of mayor in 2004).
[26][27] The Socialists formed a new coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS), and Ilić was again confirmed as assembly president after the election, serving in this role for another four years.
[29] The SNS–SPS alliance remained in power in Niš, although with the SNS in a strengthened position; Ilić was reassigned as assembly vice-president and served in this role for the next four years.