A serious political crisis ensued when Nationalist MPs refused to accept the electoral result and also refused to take their seats in parliament for the first years of the legislature. Premier Dom Mintoff called this action "perverse" but it was not an uncommon one in any parliamentary democracy with disputed election results. He proposed to his parliamentary group that fresh elections be held, [citation needed] but most members of his Parliamentary group rejected his proposal.[citation needed] Mintoff, who had been considering vacating the party leadership position even before the elections,[citation needed] voluntarily resigned as Prime Minister and Party leader in 1984 (although he retained his parliamentary seat).