The next general election is due in 2015. Mr Ramgoolam will then be 68 years old and will have been prime minister for 15 of the previous 20 years; he will also have led the Labour Party for 24 years. Speculation has already begun in the Mauritian press about the political alliances that will compete in 2015. One possible scenario is that Mr Ramgoolam, contemplating retirement around the age of 70 (part way through the next parliament) and seeking to thwart the MSM leader's ambition of becoming prime minister, will drop the alliance with the MSM in favour of one with the MMM under a new leader. The alternative-continuing the Labour-MSM alliance-would put the coalition under strain, given Mr Jugnauth's prime-ministerial ambition and the lack of an obvious successor to Mr Ramgoolam as Labour leader.