Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are vying for the post of Prime Minister in England

Liz Truss will face Rishi Sunak in the final round of a tight race to succeed Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister.

Penny Mordaunt was dropped from the race on Wednesday after receiving the least support in a fifth round of voting among Conservative Members of Parliament.

Former Finance Minister Sunak maintained his lead, winning 137 votes, while Foreign Secretary Truss came in second with 113 votes. International Trade Minister Mordaunt fell at the end of the second round with 105 votes. There were two invalid votes.

Truss and Sunak will now face off to be named leader of the UK Conservative Party and thus prime minister.

The results of the final vote, which goes to members of the Conservative Party, will be announced no later than September 5, and Johnson is expected to remain in office as caretaker prime minister until then.

What happens next?

Wednesday's vote is the latest vote in a tight race to succeed Johnson, who resigned as leader of the Conservative Party on July 7 after a series of scandals and mass resignations from within his own cabinet.

Eight candidates made it to the first round of voting on July 12, with Conservative lawmakers gradually narrowing the number in five stages.

In a previous vote on Tuesday, fourth in the contest, Kemi Badenoch, a former minister for local government and then for women and equalities, was eliminated after receiving 59 votes. Sunak received 118 votes, followed by Mordaunt with 92 and Truss with 86.

The last word will now fall to members of the Conservative Party, of whom there are an estimated 200,000, or 0.3, of the British population, who will vote for their favorite candidate.

Over the next few weeks, the two contenders will embark on a series of campaign events across the country, where voters will ask them about their policies.

Members of the Conservative Party will then choose the winner in a mail-in ballot, with the winning candidate automatically becoming prime minister.

Too close to the call

Sunak, who ran Britain's economy during the coronavirus pandemic, has so far emerged as the favorite to win Britain's top job. But little is assured in the fast-paced world of British politics.

In a Tuesday YouGov poll of Conservative Party members, Sunak was seen losing to Mordaunt and Truss in the final round of two-way votes. At that point, Truss looked poised to beat Sunak 54-35, while Mordaunt was on course to beat him 51-37.

Sunak has remained steadfast in his opposition to the tax cuts, arguing instead that curbing rising inflation is Britain's top priority. However, he has faced criticism for a number of failings under Johnson's leadership, including violating Covid-19 lockdown rules.

Still, Truss has not been exempt from the part of rejecting him, including proposals to change the mandate of the Bank of England and the introduction of a series of tax cuts.

A separate YouGov poll on Wednesday showed that more than half (52%) of Conservative Party members see personality as the main trait they look at when choosing a new leader. Just under a third (32%) cite mainstream Conservative politics, while fewer than 1 in 5 (19%) refer to Brexit delivery.

It comes as the UK Labor Party is seen beating the Conservative Party in a general election, according to a recent poll.

Britain is due to hold its next general election by January 2025 at the latest, but the incoming prime minister could choose to call a vote before then.