[1] The DSS contested the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election as part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS), a broad and ideologically diverse coalition of parties opposed to Slobodan Milošević's administration.
Nikolić was given the 168th position on the DOS's electoral list and was awarded a mandate when the coalition won a landslide victory with 176 out of 250 seats.
[10][11] The DSS formed an unstable government with the rival Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) and G17 Plus after the election with Koštunica again in the role of prime minister.
[15] Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.
Nikolić received the thirty-second position on the DSS list and was not re-elected when the party won twenty-one seats.