The news that the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will soon be leaving office raises the question: Who will be the next Prime Minster?
As an American, I recently asked the same question and came up with the simple answer: “Whoever wins popular vote.”
Is there going to be an Election?
Wrong.
I was under the impression that the UK elects their prime minster through popular vote. To my surprise, this is not how the prime ministers are elected in the UK. In fact, it is more confusing than in the US.
The electoral college and the popular vote are the two main votes in the US. These two votes usually coincide, but ultimately the electoral vote decides who the president is.
In the case of 2016’s election, however, they didn’t. There was much debate about the legitimacy of the electoral college, but also confusion over the method.
Complex, sure. The US, however, is very simple and, dare I say, normal when compared to the UK’s selection of their prime minister.
Sign upSubscribe to our weekly Indy100 newsletter
The UK’s general elections are held approximately every five years. The public does NOT vote for the prime Minister, rather they choose a person to represent their area, also called a constituency.
The party with the most constituents wins the election. In many cases, the leader of the party is elected prime minister.
The way each party chooses its leader is wild, as it is different from one another. Conservatives, also known as Tories are currently in power. The party will choose the next prime minister.
The party chooses a leader internally by voting à la American Idol. Anyone who would like to run for office must be nominated and supported by at least 20 colleagues. After voting, the nominees vote for their preferred candidate. Then the process of elimination takes place. Only two candidates remain.
After two candidates have been eliminated, the members of Conservative grassrootsThey are encouraged to vote for the candidate they prefer. Anyone can become a card-carrying member of the grassroots party so long as they pay £25 ($30) annually and have been a member for three months.
With roughly 200,000 members of the conservative grassroots, this means that only 0.3 percent vote for approximately 67,000,000 people.
Haven’t we all heard the expression “no taxation without representation” somewhere in history? It is surprising that the UK would tolerate this.
Johnson’s resignation was not due to the general election cycle, having only served for a little more than three years. Johnson was under pressure to resign following the resignation of two of Johnson’s most senior cabinet members in the wake of another scandal.
Therefore, any participation of the general public in this election is almost non-existent.
Imagine if only members were allowed to choose the next US president in case of an impeachment. There would be an uprising.
If I was forced to live in a presidency that the public did not have a say in, I would probably throw some tea in Boston Harbor in 1773.
Get involved in our news democracy. To vote for this article in the rankings, click on the upvote icon.