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thisvideoiswrong t1_itlb05a wrote

Reply to comment by space-ish in Penny Mordaunt pulls out of Tory leadership race, paving way for Rishi Sunak to become next PM | Politics News by FutureNytro

In all parliamentary systems, the Prime Minister is elected by the members of the legislature. It's like the Speaker of the House or the Senate Majority Leader in the US, but that position is given executive power. This frequently leads to coalition governments, with parties allying to form a majority that can elect a Prime Minister, which can allow for greater diversity than the US system where one person has to win the majority of votes from the whole country. And realistically a US Republican President wouldn't have resigned under these circumstances in the first place. In both cases you have to wait for the next scheduled election before the people get a vote.

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space-ish t1_itlcmfy wrote

Good point. I was thinking along the lines that people vote for the govt knowing the person who will lead/represent them. In this case it's not the person they originally voted for to lead them?

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Merzendi t1_itlm4nr wrote

Correct. The public as a whole voted for Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, and after Boris resigned, it’s the Conservatives alone who get to pick who replaces him.

While one could argue it would be ethically appropriate for a the new leader to call a general election, there’s no legal obligation to, and the likelihood of victory is very low. It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that they aren’t going to.

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woopdedoodah t1_itlp2fl wrote

Parliamentary systems are basically electoral colleges that meet regularly. You elect an elector (an MP). They vote for a leader... the PM, the new head of government. The PM lasts as long as he has the support of the parliament. While PM he/she basically gets to pass whatever legislation they want by introducing it into parliament, and getting his party / coalition to vote for it.

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