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Seven candidates win through to second round of voting for next British PM

In order to pass the threshold, the candidates needed to secure the support of 17 Conservative MPs or 5% of the Tories in the House of Commons

LONDON, June 13./TASS/. Seven of ten candidates for the Conservative Party leader and the UK prime minister have made it to the second round of the voting, the Conservative Party’s 1922 Committee Chairperson Cheryl Gillan announced on Thursday. All female contenders have been eliminated from the race.

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UK’s former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tops the race with 114 votes out of 312. Johnson is followed by the incumbent British top diplomat Jeremy Hunt (43) and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove (37). The second round, in which the candidates will have to secure the votes of 33 MPs, is due on June 18. The new Conservative party leader should be elected by the end of July.

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