The contenders for UK’s Prime Minister have been further narrowed down to three MPs after Kemi Badenoch was eliminated on Tuesday. Before the fourth round, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, and Kemi Badenoch were the only candidates left in the race for the top job. 

At the end of the fourth ballot of the conservative party, Rishi Sunak remains at the top spot with 118 votes. Second on the list was Penny Mordaunt, who scored 92 votes and was closely followed by Liz Truss with 86 votes. As the rules said, Nigerian-born Kemi Badenoch scored the lowest number of votes, which automatically removes her from the race. 

Reacting to her defeat, Badenoch thanked her colleagues and party members that stood by her.

“I’m grateful to my colleagues and the party members who have supported me. This campaign began less than two weeks ago. What we’ve achieved demonstrates the level of support for our vision of change for our country and for the Conservative Party. Thank you,” Kemi tweeted.

Looking at the race, it is almost inevitable that Rishi Sunak will clinch a final place in the last two spots. The race is now clearly between Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss, who will now battle for the 59 Ms. Badenoch’s votes. Sunak, although optimistic about victory, would not sit back. He will still be attempting to get a few of the 59 votes. 

LIZ TRUSS LIKELY TO GET BADENOCH VOTES

From all indications, the supporters of Kemi Badenoch will unlikely support either Rishi Sunak or Penny Mordaunt. MP Steve Baker, after Kemi’s elimination from the race, described her as a talented MP. He added he hopes Liz Truss will be able to attract her supporters. 

“Kemi is an extremely talented Member of Parliament who has my admiration,” Baker said.   “I would have thought that most of the people who were attracted to Kemi, I would have thought that they’ll mostly not be attracted to Penny, so I’m hopeful that Liz will be able to attract their support.”

Supporter of Badenoch, Leo Docherty, after Kemi’s elimination, said he would support Lizz Truss in the next round of votes to be held tomorrow. 

“In tomorrow’s ballot, I will be voting for [Liz Truss]. I’ve seen at first hand her deep experience & sound judgment and know she has a credible plan for our great country – including greater investment in our armed forces! MP Leo Docherty said on Twitter.

Like Docherty, other supporters of Badenoch believe that Lizz Truss is the closest to Kemi in terms of policies and ideologies. 

Liz Truss seems to be gaining more votes than other contenders as candidates are eliminated from the race. On Monday, Tom Tugendhat was eliminated after he scored 31 votes. The votes were shared between all the remaining four contenders in Tuesday’s fourth round, but Liz Truss gained more than the others. She gained 15 more votes, close to half of Tugendhat’s votes.

If the same happens on Wednesday, Liz Trus could pull a surprise and be on the ballot for the final round. The almost 200,000 conservatives in the U.K would decide who becomes the Prime Minister in September. Until then, the conservative MPs must put out the two final contenders.