György Droppa (ZA) and István Podkoniczky (SD2000) were elected co-presidents, several leaving members of the Hungarian Social Democratic Party (MSZDP) had joined the newly established organization.

ZDSZ joined the Centre Party for the 2002 parliamentary election, but did not gain any seats.

[2] In the 2002 local elections, Droppa was the Centre's candidate for the position of Mayor of Budapest, but received only 0.59 percent of the votes and came to the fifth place.

The Védegylet, the Clean Air Action Group and several other environmentalist NGOs rejected the integration efforts of ZDSZ.

On 28 March 2009, ZDSZ, along with European Feminist Initiative for a Different Europe and Workers' Party of Hungary 2006, merged into the Green Left, in a reaction to the foundation of the Politics Can Be Different (LMP).