Will the UK call an election after Liz Truss resigns?

London (CNN) – The resignation of Liz Truss on Thursday, after six weeks of a disastrous mandate, kicked off a new contest to be the next leader of the Conservative Party.

A new leader is expected to be announced on Friday 28 October, who will become prime minister as head of the largest party in the House of Commons, according to the Conservative Party official in charge of the process.

The opposition Labor Party, which polls put it on course for a landslide victory, immediately demanded an early general election.

“After 12 years of the failure of the Conservative Party, the British people deserve much better than this messy revolving door,” party leader Keir Starmer said after Truss’ resignation. “We need a general election now.”

But a new election is far from certain, even as Britain prepares for its fifth leader in just over six years.

Instead, the Conservative Party is on the cusp of electing its third leader since the last general election in 2019.

while heTo the last election for the leadership of the Conservative Party It lasted nearly two months, longer than Truss would spend as prime minister, and the next month would be faster.

Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, which represents grassroots conservatives, announced that the new leader would be chosen before next Friday.

Brady said candidates to replace Truss would need at least 100 nominations from Conservative MPs. The requirement of 100 support to continue the race effectively reduces the field of potential candidates to a maximum of three.

If one candidate emerges, Brady said, there could be a new party leader and prime minister by Monday.

But if more than one candidate crosses that threshold, they will be submitted to party membership in a quick online vote, and the new prime minister will be announced next Friday.

The competition will conclude in time for a crucial economic statement from the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, scheduled for October 31.

Two more years?

“The Conservatives cannot respond to their latest disaster by once again tapping their fingers and shuffling those at the top without the consent of the British people,” Starmer said in a statement on Thursday.

However, the British people may still have to wait two years to give their consent in the next general election.

Labor leader Keir Starmer leads calls for a general election. Credit: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

As long as the government can earn the confidence of the House of Commons, it will be able to decide when to call an election. For all their turmoil, the Conservatives have a healthy working majority of 71 in Parliament and their MPs are unlikely to voluntarily choose an election that could cause them to lose their seats.

Currently, the Conservatives are tracking Labor in the polls at nearly historic levels, which indicates that the party is on the verge of disappearing.

Although many Conservative lawmakers have expressed desperation over the state of their party, it remains to be seen whether enough of them will join Labor in a possible vote for a general election, as many Tory MPs will be out of work.

The next nationwide vote does not have to take place until January 2025 at the latest, and is generally expected to take place in the middle of 2024, which is the time of year when general elections are usually held in Britain.

The government needs Parliament to give the green light to plans for the new vote, and once that happens a six-week campaign period begins.

But the question of a general election will undoubtedly dominate British politics and haunt the new prime minister, given the whirlwind of changes within the government since the last vote.