The party suffered from internal strife in the leadup to the 2010 election. In December 2009, Prime Minister Jim Marurai sacked his Deputy Prime Minister, Terepai Maoate, sparking a mass-resignation of Democratic Party cabinet members He and new Deputy Prime Minister Robert Wigmore were subsequently expelled from the Democratic Party, and the party withdrew its support. A formal split was averted in June 2010 when a party conference readmitted Marurai, Wigmore, and the other Cabinet members, and appointed Wigmore as party leader, with Wilkie Rasmussen as his deputy. However, several senior MPs, including former leader Terepai Maoate and former President John Tangi subsequently failed to win reselection and ran as independents.