values and national ideas played a greater role in the MDF's rhetorics than in its conservative and Christian democratic counterparts in Western European countries. The right-wing, radically populist and national faction within the party was characterised by vocal anti-communism as well as anti-liberalism. Its proponents called for a systematic "cleansing" of public positions from former communists, demanded the sacking of supposedly "un-national" responsibles at TV and radio stations, and also attacked the liberal SzDSz, which they viewed as "cosmopolitan", "liberal-bolshevik" and "Jewish" and therefore incompatible with the ordinary Hungarians' mindset. After 1992, the distance of the national radicals to the moderate governmental wing grew progressively, and in 1993 most of them led by István Csurka left the party to found far-right parties, most notably the Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP). After Antall's death in December 1993, he was succeeded by his party colleague Péter Boross, who led the government until the parliamentary election of May 1994. Alliance with Fidesz (1994–2006) 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. The MDF was admitted to the European People's Party (EPP) as an observer in 1998, becoming an associate member in 2001 and a full member in 2004. From 1999 to 2010, the party was led by Ibolya Dávid. The MDF had 24 seats in the National Assembly between 2002 and 2006, due to an electoral alliance with Fidesz. In the 2004 European Parliamentary Elections it gained 5.3% (164,025 votes) of the vote and one of its members, Péter Olajos, was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), sitting with the