Sunak leads the vote again, but falls two votes short of the 120 he was aiming for
The battle to guide Rishi Sunak as a candidate to succeed Boris Johnson seems to have tilted in favor of Foreign Secretary Liz Truss after Kemi Badenoch’s elimination in the penultimate round of voting for the Conservative group. The final vote will take place next Wednesday and the two elected officials will compete for the vote of the party members.
Kemi Badenoch, of Nigerian descent, was the biggest surprise in this election process. Unknown to the general public and with modest government experience as Secretary of State, she favored a less interventionist state. She is the only candidate who has questioned the deadlines to transform the economy and reach the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The 59 voters, one more than in the third round, will decide who will accompany Sunak, who increases his support by three with 118 votes. Penny Mordaunt, who lost a vote in the previous round, from 83 to 82, now jumps to 92. But her rival, Liz Truss, is now the favorite, going from 71 to 86. The badenochistas are more likely to back Truss this Wednesday then to Mordaunt.
It is very difficult to predict the vote of the delegates in these electoral processes -because personal friendships, promotion promises, tactical games to promote or hinder the advance of other candidates…- have influence, but the underlying current is the political ideology , which divides members among the ideas and priorities that the elected leader should support.
Mordaunt is a peculiar character. Very vague in defining its specific objectives and criticized for its absenteeism or frivolity by ministerial colleagues, it is better known to the public for participating in a television program by jumping into a swimming pool in a swimsuit from a fixed platform. Her military past makes her attractive to many voters. Some polls indicate it as a favorite of Conservative Party members.
Opportunism and eclecticism are her hallmarks of this campaign, while Liz Truss has had the support of Johnson’s supporters – she did not ask for his resignation in the uprising of the first week of July – and the party’s right wing. This movement is identified as convinced of the benefits of ‘Brexit’ and in favor of lower taxes and less government spending.
His campaign has been portrayed as the toughest, with his supporters leaking negative information about other candidates. She profiles herself as an experienced politician. He has been in the British cabinet since 2014, with successive Prime Ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. “I make difficult decisions”, was one of the themes of his campaign.
It is mathematically possible, but not likely, that Sunak will be ousted from his top spot by Mordaunt and Truss. The 357 voting delegates could provide a triple bond with 119 to a population already overwhelmed by the ambient temperature. Sunak missed her goal of 120 votes, making it impossible for the remaining two candidates to match her.
Source: La Verdad
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