LONDON (HPD) — The ruling Conservative Party is preparing to elect a new leader for the second time this year. The winner will succeed Luz Truss, who resigned on Thursday after just 45 days in office, as party leader and automatically as prime minister.
Unlike the two-month race to replace Boris Johnson, party officials have designed a condensed process to have a new prime minister in a week.
This is how the fight will unfold:
Friday October 21: Nominations for the election open, and any of the 357 Conservative lawmakers can be a candidate.
For this, the candidate needs the signatures of 100 legislators, much more than the 20 of the previous contest. The limit is three candidates. In the previous one, there were eight candidates in the first round.
Monday, October 24: The deadline to apply is 2:00 p.m. (1300 GMT). If there are three candidates, legislators will vote between 3:30 and 5:30, and the result will be announced at 6:00. The candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated.
When two candidates remain, lawmakers will hold an “indicative vote” before online voting begins in which the party’s 172,000 members across the country can participate.
Friday, October 28: Voting ends. A winner is declared, who will meet with King Carlos III to be formally appointed Prime Minister.