A former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rishi Sunak has taken an early lead, following the conclusion of the first round of knockout votes in the race for the next Conservative leader and prime minister.
Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi have been eliminated from the race to replace an embattled Boris Johnson, who had earlier announced his resignation as UK’s Prime Minister.
The race is left with six candidates who will continue balloting on Thursday.
Zahawi, gained 25 votes, while Hunt got 18. Recall that Hunt, a former health and foreign secretary lost out in the final stage of the 2019 leadership election.
The other candidates include: Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman. Hunt and Zahawi’s public backers stood at 14.
Sunak, the former chancellor, remained the frontrunner with 88 votes, while Penny Mordaunt, a trade minister took second place with 67.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary scored 50 votes, and Kemi Badenoch, who resigned her position as a minister last week, got 40.
Two candidates: Tom Tugendhat, chair of the foreign affairs committee, with 37 backers and Suella Braverman, the attorney general who was the first person to declare her intention to run last week, with 32.
Confronted by a series of allegations about his financial affairs, Zahawi was labeled “a scandal waiting to happen” by colleagues.
The rules for the contest as set by the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, MPs needed 20 supporters to be officially included in the election, and more than 30 to progress to the second round.
Thursday’s election indicated that there will be no minimum threshold that candidates need to stay in the race, but the one who comes last will be eliminated.
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