After Penny Mordaunt was eliminated from the race on Wednesday, former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss were left as the final two candidates for the Tory leadership.
In Conservative legislators' last round of voting, International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt was ousted. According to Xinhua, Truss garnered 113 votes in the final round, while Rishi Sunak received 137.
The two will now face a postal vote this summer among the approximately 200,000 members of the Conservative Party.?
The winner, whose name will be revealed on September 5, will automatically succeed in departing Prime Minister Boris Johnson as UK leader.
Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, topped the first round with 88 votes, according to Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative Backbench 1922 Committee.
The other five survivors were International Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt (67 votes), Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (50 votes), former Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch (40 votes), backbench lawmaker Tom Tugendhat (37 votes), and Attorney General Suella Braverman (32 votes).
Tom Tugendhat, House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, was knocked out of the race as he received the fewest votes.
The four survivors were former Sunak?(115 votes), Mordaunt's (82 votes), Truss (71 votes), and Badenoch (58 votes). In the fourth round of voting on Tuesday, Indian-origin former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak retained the lead in the fourth round of voting on Tuesday to succeed Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister, while one candidate was eliminated.
Sunak came on top with 118 votes, followed by Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt with 92 votes and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss with 86. According to the 1922 Committee of Conservative Party backbenchers, Kemi Badenoch was eliminated from the contest, reducing the number of contestants to three.
Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister in 2019 and announced on July 7 that he was stepping down as prime minister and leader of the UK Conservative Party.
Johnson, 58, managed to remain in power for almost three years, despite allegations that he was too close to party donors, that he protected supporters from bullying and corruption allegations, and that he misled Parliament and was dishonest to the public about government office parties that broke pandemic lockdown rules.
Johnson, who won a landslide victory in the general elections in 2019, lost support after he was caught in a string of scandals, including the ĄŽParty GateĄ¯ scandal and the Pincher scandal involving his appointment of a politician accused of sexual misconduct.?
(With ANI Inputs)
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