London – British Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that she wants to hold a snap general election on June 8.
May said she had decided “reluctantly” an election is needed after earlier ruling out any election before 2020.
“I have concluded the only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead is to hold this election,” she said outside Downing Street, the British prime minister’s residence in central London.
She accused the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties, as well as the Scottish National Party and the House of Lords, parliament’s upper house, of seeking to delay her Brexit plans.
“If we do not hold an election now, their political gameplaying will continue,” May said.
“So we need a general election and we need one now,” she said.
“It will be a choice between strong, stable leadership… or weak [Labour-Liberal Democrat] coalition government.”
Under Britain’s fixed-term parliament act, May must win the approval of two-thirds of lawmakers in parliament’s main house, the Commons, before proceeding with an earlier vote.
She plans to table a motion in the Commons on Wednesday.
-dpa
