United Kingdom: MP Ed Davey elected leader of the Liberal Democrats

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2 min

Elected Thursday August 27 as the head of the Liberal Democrats, MP Ed Davey called on his constituents to wake up and take notice of the situation after the party was defeated in the legislative elections in December. He is the 4th elected leader in 5 years and he has promised to rebuild the "lib-dem".

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With our correspondent in London, Laura Kalmus

He is determined to change his party, attract new voters and revive this small anti-Brexit opposition formation. Aged 54, Ed Davey is the new leader of the British Liberal Democrat Party.

But his road to success risks being long and strewn with pitfalls. For the moment the party has only eleven seats in Parliament out of 650 and was weakened by 5 years of coalition with the Conservatives between 2010 and 2015. At the time, Ed Davey was Minister of Energy and Climate and since then he has shown his perseverance and his attachment to the party.

Fervent opponents of Brexit, the lib-dem have regained some of their popularity among Europhiles. But during the last legislative elections last December, the party said it simply wanted to cancel Brexit, without holding a second referendum. A solution considered anti-democratic, even among pro-Europeans.

The British have now left the European Union. It is difficult to know what will be the hobbyhorse of the new leader of the centrist party.

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