Rishi Sunak narrowly leads the fractious race to replace Boris Johnson as Britain's prime minister after the latter resigned from his position amid several controversies.
The race entered an unpredictable endgame on Tuesday as the top three candidates for Conservative Party leader were left battling for the two spots in a run-off vote. A previously little-known lawmaker, Kemi Badenoch, was eliminated from the race after receiving the fewest votes from Conservative lawmakers in their fourth round of voting.
Race To Succeed Boris Johnson
With Sunak's lead after the vote that knocked Badenoch out, he all but guaranteed his place in the final two slots. Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the two candidates who were trailing Sunak, will now have to scramble to gain the trust of Badenoch's supporters before a final elimination vote on Wednesday.
The final three candidates are racing to succeed Johnson, who was forced to resign this month after snowballing ethics scandals that sparked mass resignations in his government. When the two finalists are determined, they will go to a runoff vote by all 180,000 members of the Conservative Party, with a winner expected to be announced on Sept. 5, as per the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Sunak got 118 votes, which was only two short of the number that would guarantee he is one of the two candidates Conservative members will choose from. On the other hand, Mordaunt received 92 votes as Truss got 86 votes.
All remaining candidates are still courting supporters of Tom Tugendhat, an influential lawmaker who was eliminated from the contest on Monday. Badenoch and Mordaunt tweeted praise for Tugendhat after the vote on Monday. On the other hand, Truss promised to increase military spending from 2% to 3% of the GDP, which is a key issue for Tugendhat.
According to Aljazeera, unlike in 2019 when Johnson was a clear favorite going into the contest, the result this time around is more difficult to forecast. This comes as polls of party members suggest that Sunak would lose to whoever is chosen to face him.
Britain's Prime Minister
Candidates who are looking to succeed Johnson have become part of an increasingly ugly contest as the trade barbs and challenge records. In a statement, Mordaunt said that she was excited to put her case to members across the country and win.
On the other hand, a Truss spokesperson said it was "time for the party to unite behind a candidate who will govern in a Conservative way and who has shown she can deliver time and again.
The three remaining candidates have presented policy offerings to add momentum to their campaigns, trying to move the focus away from pledges of tax cuts, at a time when the region's flagging economy has left citizens with the tightest squeeze on their finances for decades.
The forecast that Sunak will lose the final round comes as a poll shows that he is 19 points behind Truss and 14 points behind Mordaunt. This has forced the official to spend the last few days appealing directly to the Tory party base in order to shore up more support for his campaign, the Times of India reported.
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