The national conservative party formed on 4 March 1996, when Iván Szabó and his supporters left Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) following Szabó's defeat against Sándor Lezsák at the party leadership election.

15 MPs, including several prominent politicians, such as György Szabad, Géza Jeszenszky and Imre Kónya, formed a parliamentary group and Szabó became its leader.

The MDNP did not hit the 5% threshold contrary at the 1998 parliamentary election, as a result Szabó resigned from his position.

Mihály Kupa's alliance won 3.9% of the popular vote and no seats at the 2002 parliamentary election.

[3] The unusual alliance of centre-right and centre-left groups hindered the Centre Party's effectiveness and, eventually, two of the founding political formations, KDNP and MDNP quit the party on 31 December 2004.