[2]: 143 [3]: 39  He formed the Saint Sava Association in 1989 with Mirko Jović, Vojislav Šešelj, and Veljko Guberina, which sought to promote nationalism in Vojvodina.

[11] SPO believed that the referendum should have occurred once the multi-party elections ended and the National Assembly of Serbia was constituted.

[10][12]: 38  SPO sought to start its actions in towns and villages of the Šumadija region; Drašković called Valjevo his "political capital".

[3]: 56–57 [10] Additionally, Drašković used nationalist rhetoric in his speeches, earning the nickname "King of the Streets" due to his fiery oratory skills.

[10][14] Drašković won 16 per cent of the popular vote and was eventually defeated by Milošević in the first round of the election in a landslide.

[3]: 81  The protests increased in size and Milošević was met with pressure;[3]: 82, 84  Drašković was released, Studio B and B92 were allowed to broadcast again, and the RTS director was sacked.

[3]: 84–85 [20] Author Robert Thomas said that Drašković came under criticism from certain opposition politicians due to not taking the advantage of the protests after his release.

The SPO was part of the "Together" (Zajedno) coalition in the 1996 parliamentary election which received 23.8% of the popular vote, losing to the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

In early 1999, the SPO joined the Slobodan Milošević-led government, and Drašković became a Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister.

The SPO had a place in Serbia's Rambouillet Agreement delegation and held posts such as the Yugoslav Information Ministry to show a more pro-Western face to the world in the run-up to NATO's bombing campaign in 1999 against the country.

The SPO participated in an attempt to overthrow Milošević in 1999, which faltered after Drašković broke off his alliance with opposition leader Zoran Đinđić.

In 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in which Milošević lost, the Serbian Renewal Movement overestimated its strength and ran independently, outside of the vast Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition.

He was opposed by Vojislav Koštunica of DOS, Slobodan Milošević of the ruling SPS and Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Radical Party.

The SPO's vote collapsed, with its traditional voters drawn by Kostunica's conservatism and by the fact that he was their best hope to remove Milošević from power.

Following the 5.October changes the SPO participated in a so-called national unity government that served effectively under DOS "coordinator" Zoran Đinđić.

In the 2008 elections the SPO took part in the For a European Serbia coalition under President Boris Tadić, receiving 38.42% of the vote and 102 seats in parliament.

[3]: 55  There was a proposal to form SPO branches in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the congress in October 1990, however, Drašković rejected it, stating that "such a move would only serve to divide the Serbian voters"; he described Radovan Karadžić's Serb Democratic Party as a "sister-party to our movement".