The race between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to become the leader of the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom's next prime minister came to a close on Friday, 2 September, the deadline for all members to cast their ballots and choose between the former chancellor of the exchequer and the current foreign secretary.
Sunak, 42, and Truss, 47, have been in a fierce competition across the United Kingdom over the last month to win support from around 1,60,000 Conservative Party members.
The results for the election will be announced at 5 pm (IST) on 5 September by returning officer Sir Graham Brady, AFP reported.
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) said that 19,859 people attended 12 hustings events between the two candidates and as many as 2.2 million people watched them across online platforms.
The contest had begun in July, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced to resign after months of pressure due to the 'partygate' and Chris Pincher scandals that rocked the country.
Truss in the Lead
While the Indian-origin former Chancellor of the Exchequer promised to get inflation under control as his topmost priority, the foreign secretary assured tax cuts on day one of her prospective tenure.
In the initial months of campaigning, Sunak was the clear frontrunner. However, in recent weeks, he has been on the backfoot, as per pre-poll surveys.
One might not want to write Sunak off just yet though.
Several polls had predicted a defeat for Johnson in the 2019 polls owing to anti-incumbency against the Tories. However, Johnson won an overwhelming majority in the polls.
Whoever is elected as the next prime minister will head to Scotland to meet Queen Elizabeth II at her summer residence of Balmoral Castle.
(With inputs from AFP.)
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