Liz Truss yesterday went down in the books as the UK’s prime minister with the shortest tenure ever. She resigned after 45 turbulent days and the Conservative Party is looking for another leader to automatically become Prime Minister of the UK. The third in a year.

The opposition Labor Party is calling for new elections, but these are not on the calendar until 2025. Plus, these elections must be called by the party in power, but the Conservative Party isn’t waiting for it right now.

It is very likely that Labor will emerge victorious. Polls show the Conservative Party is in poor shape, a result of internal fighting and scandals in recent months.

So there will be another leadership election. The aim is to appoint a new prime minister by next Friday at the latest.

Conservative MPs who want to run in the leadership election must garner at least 100 votes from their party colleagues to be nominated. They have until Monday afternoon to do this. Since there are 357 Conservative MPs, a maximum of three candidates can pass the threshold and take part in the leadership election.

Once it is clear who the candidates are, a first ballot will follow on Monday afternoon. If there are three candidates, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. A second round of voting will follow in the evening.

nomination

After that, it should be clear who the conservative parliamentarians are proposing as favorites. Later in the week, all Conservative Party members will be able to vote online and it will be clear who will succeed Truss.

It can also be faster: there is a chance that just one candidate will receive more than a hundred votes. Then there will be no election on Monday afternoon, but an appointment. In this case, the members no longer have to vote, and it is therefore already clear on Monday who will lead the Conservative Party and thus become the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Many politicians are only too happy to run for prime minister. Among them is former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who finished second to Truss in leadership elections last summer. He seems to be the biggest contender at the moment.

Penny Mordaunt, leader of the party in the House of Commons, is also said to be taking advantage of Truss’ position. In the previous lead race she was third.

And then there’s former Prime Minister Johnson, who was forced to resign after several scandals. He is eyeing a return to 10 Downing Street, according to British media. ‘BoJo’ is currently on holiday in the Dominican Republic but rumors immediately erupted yesterday that he was calling it quits early.

The names of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who resigned this week, and Foreign Secretary for International Trade Kemi Badenoch are also singing around. So far, no one has confirmed their candidacy.

When the new leader is in place and has 10 Downing Street involved, the major problems and divisions within the Conservative Party will by no means be resolved.

And the task facing the new prime minister has only grown in Truss’ short tenure. The economy is bad. Purchasing power has not been this low in 60 years and millions of Britons will struggle to pay their energy bills this winter.

Pension funds have also been hit in recent weeks and the pound has fallen sharply. That rose again slightly after Truss announced her resignation yesterday. In any case, Truss’ successor will have to get to work directly to address the country’s problems.

UK correspondent Arjen van der Horst:

“Opposition leader and Labor leader Keir Stamer has been calling for snap elections for weeks. The newspapers today also open with this tone. It’s strange: to change leadership again without the voters saying anything about it. And that’s it time for a changeShe finds the opposition, and many with them. But there is no mechanism to force elections now.

The Prime Minister is not elected in the UK. A leader is appointed within the parties, and the leader of the ruling party is also the prime minister. Nonetheless, it has happened that a prime minister has organized early elections. Should that happen, the Conservatives are likely to lose. Within the party, some think this would be a good thing: getting things moving again from the opposition. Because now they’re completely lost.”