[2] The election was won by the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS), and Vrbaški served in opposition.
Vrbaški was personally elected as the SPO, with twenty-two seats out of seventy, became the largest single party in the city assembly.
Despite periods of tension, the governing coalition of the SPO, the DS, and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) remained in power for a full term.
[5] In March 2000, he announced that Novi Sad would receive sixteen million German marks from the European Commission for the reconstruction of the city's bridge over the Danube, which had been destroyed in the bombing.
[6] The SPO attempted to run on a united list with the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) in Novi Sad for the 2000 local elections,[7] but the negotiations were ultimately unsuccessful.
While serving as mayor, Vrbaški also appeared in the lead position on the SPO's electoral list for the Novi Sad division in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election.