British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff are talking about an imminent general election as though it were a fact, but amid growing expectations that the next chapter in the UK’s political crisis is to see the country go to the polls, it is still not clear how it would happen.
The argument for an election is clear. Johnson has a governing majority in the British Parliament of just one seat, meaning that he does not have the votes to pass any controversial legislation.
It is also far from clear that there is a majority for any kind of Brexit deal, while British lawmakers are plotting to block his “do or die” plan to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31, without a deal if necessary.
Calling an election would stop those plots — lawmakers would cease to be lawmakers and would have to fight again for their seats — and could potentially deliver Johnson a majority.
The Conservatives see Johnson as an electoral asset, a politician who is also a celebrity.
If Johnson could argue that the election had been forced on him and fight a “parliament versus the people” campaign, the Tories hope that Johnson could sweep up voters frustrated that Brexit has not been delivered.
Yet, a prime minister can no longer go to the monarch and request an election. Under the 2011 UK Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, a national ballot can only be called if two-thirds of parliament opt for one, or if the government loses a confidence vote. Unless either of those happen, the next election is not scheduled until 2022.
If Johnson wants an election “to break the parliamentary deadlock, or get a mandate for a no-deal Brexit, then he will not only need the support of all of his party, but also a sizable chunk of opposition MPs,” said Maddy Thimont Jack of the Institute for Government. “A lot depends on when he calls it.”
Opponents of a no-deal Brexit fear that Johnson might go for a date just after Oct. 31, allowing Britain to leave the EU without a deal during the election campaign, when there would be no Parliament to stop it.
Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said that this would be “unconstitutional and anti-democratic.”
Labour’s backing, which Johnson needs given his wafer-thin majority, would likely depend on his agreeing to delay Brexit.
There is a potential way around the 2011 election law: To amend it, requiring only a simple majority in parliament. But it would also need the agreement of the upper House of Lords, and the timing of Brexit makes this complicated.
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS