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The first round of votes among the candidates who are vying to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the leader of its Conservative Party took place this week. From the votes, former finance minister Rishi Sunak came in the lead.
Reuters reports that Sunak came in the lead with the most votes from Conservative lawmakers this week, with 88 lawmakers voting for him. Junior trade minister Penny Mordaunt received 67 votes, and foreign minister Liz Truss received 50.
Following three candidates who dropped out the previous day, Sunak’s successor Nadhim Zahawi and former foreign minister Jeremy Hunt were eliminated from the race after both candidates failed to reach the minimum of 30 votes.
The remaining candidates, which include former equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, Attorney General Suella Braverman, and the chair of parliament’s foreign affairs committee Tom Tugendhat, will be going through another round of voting Thursday.
Conservative lawmakers are set to continue voting until the final two candidates are decided by July 21. The new leader of the Conservative Party and the new Prime Minister will then be announced by September 5, after the 200,000 members of the Conservative Party in the country cast their votes.
Sunak may be seen as the most popular among his colleagues, but a YouGov poll of almost 900 party members backed Mordaunt in a big lead over Sunak.
The race appears to be contentious as the candidates have each taken jabs at each other while some pledge tax breaks in the midst of inflation and rising gas prices worsened by the Ukraine war.
Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that he would be leaving with his head “held high” a week after he announced his resignation following a series of scandals under his administration along with the resignations of government officials, including Sunak, and growing calls from Conservative Party members to step down.
“I am…proud of the leadership I have given and I will be leaving soon with my head held high,” Johnson told parliament, adding that the Conservative Party will unite around the winner of the race to replace him.
