 This number was slashed to just three at the 1999 general election.Viljoen, who acted as the leader since the party's founding, retired from politics in 2001 and Mulder succeeded him.In 2004, under Mulder's leadership, the Freedom Front was renamed Freedom Front Plus after absorbing the smaller Conservative Party, the Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging (Afrikaner Unity Movement), which lost its only seat in the National Assembly due to floor-crossing, and the Federal Alliance of Dr. Louis Luyt.