 In the 1997 parliamentary election, the party was reduced to 0.1% of the national vote, and was even more marginalised in the 1999 local elections.It gained competition from the new Norwegian People's Party (NFP) for the 2001 parliamentary election, which left its support split between the two parties.The NFP had planned to merge with the FLP the year before, but according to the former party's leader Oddbjørn Jonstad, Trefall had made organisational demands he refused to agree on.