had left the SPS and joined the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, DOS). When a series of polls taken in early September 2000 showed DOS candidate Vojislav Koštunica leading Slobodan Milošević in the Yugoslavian presidential election, Ivković accused the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of involvement, saying that the organization was seeking to manipulate those undecided voters who "always go along with the strongest." Koštunica ultimately defeated Milošević in the Yugoslavian presidential election, a watershed moment in Serbian and Yugoslavian politics. As in 1996, the state authorities did not initially accept the result and sought to introduce a repeat vote; following large-scale protests, however, the Milošević government was overthrown on 5 October 2000. The DOS also defeated the SPS in the Yugoslavian parliamentary election. In the election for the Chamber of Republics, the DOS won ten seats as against seven for the SPS; Ivković did not receive a mandate and was not included in his party's delegation for the new parliament. He was also defeated in his bid for re-election to the City Assembly of Belgrade in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections, losing to a candidate of the DOS in the downtown municipality of Vračar. The SPS continued to dominate Serbia's republican government in the early days after Milošević's downfall, and on 11 October 2000 Ivković issued a direct challenge to Koštunica's federal administration by saying that Serbia would assume direct control over the 100,000-member police force within its borders. Ultimately, however, the Serbian government was unable to continue in office without Milošević, and a new transitional government consisting of the SPS, the DOS, and the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO) was formed pending a new Serbian parliamentary election in December. The SPS initially nominated Ivković to continue as minister of science and technology in the new administration, but the DOS objected to his candidacy, with Nebojša Čović accusing him of responsibility for the beating of student protestors in 1996–97. Ivković rejected Čović's accusation but agreed to withdraw his candidacy rather than delay the new administration, and his term in cabinet ended on 25 October 2000. SPS leader in the Serbian parliament (2001–2002) Serbia's election laws were reformed prior to the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, such that the entire country became a single electoral division and all mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions, irrespective