The CPC – building on foundations laid by Reform, the Alliance, and the Progressive Conservative Party – continued to make electoral progress. In the January 2006 federal election it won 124 seats compared to 103 for the Liberals and formed its first minority government with Harper as Prime Minister. Seeking a majority, Harper asked the Governor General to dissolve the House in September 2008. In the subsequent October election, the CPC won 143 seats – still 12 seats short of a majority. Early in 2011, the Harper government was defeated by a non-confidence vote, thus forcing a general election. This time, in the May 2011 election, the CPC won 166 seats, sufficient to form a majority government. In that election, the Liberals won the fewest federal seats in their history, and were reduced to third party status, while the NDP made unprecedented gains to become the Official Opposition.