With a seven-year mandate, the next presidential election is not due until 2016, and Senate elections are due in January 2015. National Assembly elections, however, are due by December 2011. Although the PDG lost only two seats to the UN in the June 2010 by-elections-the PDG defectors seemingly unable to transfer personal support bases-it remains unclear to what extent members of the former UN will be able to contest the forthcoming election, if they choose to do so at all. The modest public support for Mr Mba Obame's self-proclamation as "president" suggests that the PDG is likely to retain its strong majority even if a new party is formed. Indeed, symptomatic of the UN's fragility-its heavyweight leaders had little in common beyond shared antipathy towards Mr Bongo-is that few have supported Mr Mba Obame. Thus, whether or not a new party contests the poll, the PDG is likely to remain dominant, particularly if it can co-opt the UPG. With no rapprochement, however, the PDG may try to tempt remnants of the UN leadership back into the fold.