Six of the eight candidates vying to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived Wednesday’s first ballot to elect a new Conservative Party leader.
The election was held among more than 350 “Tory” deputies, and each candidate needed at least 30 votes to continue.
Former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak took first place with 88 votes, followed by former Defense Secretary Penny Mordaunt (67) and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50).
Former Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch got 40 votes, while deputy Tom Tugendhat got 37 and attorney general Suella Braverman got 32.
In contrast, Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi (25) and Representative Jeremy Hunt (18) failed to reach the 30 minimum votes required to continue the race.
The Sunak ignited the wave of resignations that would lead to Johnson’s downfall, and it has fiscal responsibility as its main platform, with tax cuts only when public accounts recover from the pandemic.
The second ballot will take place this Thursday (14) and there will no longer be a blocking item, but the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated. This system will remain in effect until only two candidates remain to stand in an election among all Conservative Party members.
Since the Conservatives have a majority in the House of Commons, the winner of the election race will likely be automatically nominated for prime minister at the end of Parliament’s summer recess on September 5.
Johnson withdrew from the Conservative Party leadership after a series of resignations from his cabinet over a sex scandal involving one of his closest allies, Representative Chris Pincher.
But before that, the prime minister’s popularity had already been shaken by “Partygate,” a scandal involving members of the British government, including Johnson himself, in times of lockdown against the Covid-19 pandemic.
source: Noticias
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