Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has made significant progress in the first round of Conservative Party votes on a candidate to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May as party leader.
Johnson, who pledged to implement the withdrawal from the European Union on Oct. 31, received 114 votes, well ahead of his closest rival, current Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, who was second with 43 votes.
Environment Minister Michael Goff received 37 votes and three candidates were excluded after failing to get the minimum necessary votes to move to the next stage of voting.
The vote is held in two stages, the first of which cuts the number of 313 deputies through a series of secret votes, the number of candidates so that only two remain. In the second stage, the party's 160,000 members are elected, one of them as party chairman.
The next vote for deputies is on Tuesday after a televised debate on Sunday.
It is noteworthy that Mai resigned on the seventh of this month as the head of the Conservative Party, having failed to implement the agreement Brikst, which was scheduled on 29 March last and then postponed to October 31 next.
Her successor is scheduled to be appointed at the end of July by the Conservative Party, becoming prime minister.