On January 27th 11 senior members of an opposition party, the Union nationale (UN), defected to the Mouvement socialiste militant (MSM), the main partner of the Labour Party in the government coalition. The UN was set up by Ashock Jugnauth in June 2006 after he resigned from the MSM because of the decision of the party's leader, Pravind Jugnauth, to end its opposition alliance with the Mouvement militant mauricien (MMM; June 2006, The political scene). Ashock Jugnauth is Pravind Jugnauth's uncle and the half-brother of the president of Mauritius, Sir Anerood Jugnauth. As a senior member of the MSM, he was minister of health in the MMM-MSM government before the July 2005 parliamentary election.

Ashock Jugnauth's star began to wane in 2007 when the Supreme Court quashed his re-election to parliament on the grounds of corruption, bribery and abuse of office in the run-up to the 2005 election (June 2007, The political scene). In November 2008 the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council confirmed this verdict and Mr Jugnauth was ejected from the National Assembly. At the parliamentary election in May 2010 the UN and the Mouvement mauricien social-démocrate formed an alliance with the much larger MMM, led by Paul Bérenger, but neither minor party won a single seat.

The 11 defectors from the UN said that they were returning to the MSM because it was a more serious party, with more progressive social and economic policies than the MMM. They also said they could not support Ashock Jugnauth's attachment to the MMM. Their defection is likely to lead to the demise of the UN and to further consolidation in the power of Pravind Jugnauth, who has sought to broaden the MSM's base and considers himself to be a contender to succeed the prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam.