The 1994 poll brought a devastating defeat for the MDF which dropped to 12.0% of the votes and 38 seats, putting it on a distant third place behind the resurged Socialists and the liberal SzDSz. While in opposition, internal quarrels continued and intensified between conservatives, like Boross and Sándor Lezsák, and centrists around Iván Szabó. After Lezsák won the leadership vote in 1996, Szabó and most of the governmental figures of the Antall period left the party and founded the Hungarian Democratic People's Party (MDNP). In the 1998 parliamentary election, both parties performed very disappointingly (MDF: 2.8%; MDNP: 1,3%). However, the MDF had fielded joint candidates with Fidesz – that had turned from liberal to conservative after 1994 – in some constituencies and thus secured 17 seats in parliament. The party joined a Fidesz-led coalition government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán which also included the Smallholders Party.