The next general election is scheduled to take place in October 2014. As the BDP has comfortably retained its parliamentary majority in the face of the threat from the BMD, there is now little chance that the government will call a snap election. Opposition parties have agreed on the need, in principle, to put aside past differences and co-operate in the lead-up to the next election, and each of the main parties has appointed a team to negotiate an electoral pact. However, continuing frictions between the opposition parties-most recently over the selection of joint candidates for local council by-elections-indicate how difficult it will be for the opposition to co-operate in practice. In particular, some party activists in the Botswana National Front remain suspicious and, in some cases, openly hostile to the idea of working with the other parties, which they see as little better than the BDP. At the same time, frictions between the BMD and the Botswana Congress Party could emerge as they compete for the centre ground of Botswana politics and practical matters of co-operation-notably the distribution of seats between the parties-come to the fore.