On 25 January 2012, Bligh announced that a state election would be held in Queensland on 24 March, but that she would not formally ask the Governor to dissolve parliament until 19 February. For Newman to unseat Bligh as premier, he needed not only to win Ashgrove, but also lead the LNP to at least an 11-seat gain. However, the LNP were unbackable favourites to win the election; as mentioned above they had been leading in opinion polling for all but a few months since July 2011.