Boris Johnson’s second bid to call General Election Fails

• 09.10.2019, 11:56
•  Europe,  World

Jessica Taylor/House of Commons via AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson again tried and again failed, to call a snap general election in a vote that took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, his sixth-straight defeat in five days of House of Commons business.

To trigger an early election, the government needs 434 votes - two-thirds of all MPs in the 650-seat lower house of parliament - but only 293 backed the proposal, Al Jazeera reports.

Opposition parties united to block Johnson's bid to take the country to the polls, distrustful of the prime minister and wary of any chicanery that could see the administration change the date of the election once it was agreed and run down the clock on a "no-deal" Brexit.