 The party improved its performance during the 1999 general election to receive 9.6% of the vote and 38 seats, replacing the New National Party (NNP) as official opposition.The NPP remained influential in the Western Cape due to its retention of the cape coloured vote, but the DP emerged as kingmakers in the province and opted to become the junior partner in a coalition government with the NNP.At this point, the NNP had officially abandoned its earlier apartheid ideology and attempted to rebrand itself as a none-racial conservative force, thus making the party an acceptable coalition partner for the DP.