Michael Caltabiano and Terry Rogers were elected as the new members for Chatsworth and Redcliffe respectively. Following the announcement that Nita Cunningham would be retiring because of cancer, Premier Beattie called a general election for 9 September 2006. The Coalition failed to promote a united team under Lawrence Springborg MP, ready to assume government following a failed attempt to merge to the National Party into the Queensland Liberal Party earlier in the year. With the election due to be called any day, the Liberal Party surprised the public by ejecting long-standing leader, Bob Quinn, and electing Bruce Flegg MP as leader of the Liberal Party. The election campaign started badly for the Coalition when in the opening days, Flegg was unable to clearly articulate the Coalition position should the Liberals achieve a majority in their party on winning government, and continued with numerous gaffes which were keenly covered by the media. The Coalition found it difficult to gain momentum after these initial blunders and despite a number of real issues to take the government to task over concerning infrastructure, the health system and water, the media remained focused on the personal leadership skills of the Coalition's front men. The ALP campaigned on the theme of a solid leadership team and this was overwhelming endorsed at the polls. A second attempt at merging the Liberal and National parties was successful with the Liberal National Party being formed in 2008 with former Nationals leader Lawrence Springborg elected as its inaugural leader. Despite a swing towards it, the new Liberal National Party was defeated by the Labor Party, now led by Premier Anna Bligh, in 2009. In 2011 the Liberal Nationals elected Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman as its new leader. This led to an unusual circumstance in Australian politics, as Newman was not a member of the Legislative Assembly and was, therefore, unable to become the Leader of the Opposition. As a result former state Nationals' leader Jeff Seeney was elected interim opposition leader while Newman headed the party's election team from outside the legislature. The 2012 election saw the Liberal National Party defeat Labor in one of the biggest landslides in Australian history, winning 49.65% of the primary vote and 78 of 89 seats, leaving the ALP with seven seats (26.66% of the primary vote), the newly formed Katter's Australian Party winning two seats, and the remaining seats won by independents.