British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday again failed in his attempt to call for a snap election in December amid the political deadlock over the UK's departure from the European Union (EU).
The resolution moved by Johnson got the support of 299 MPs in the British Parliament. However, 70 of them voted against it and large numbers of lawmakers abstained, meaning the resolution failed to get the mandatory two-thirds majority in the 650-member House of Commons, CNN reported.
Reacting to the results, Johnson said that his government will introduce a short bill calling for an early election on December 12.
Such a bill would need a simple majority, rather than the requisite two-thirds required as per the country's Fixed Term Parliaments Act, and could effectively override the current election law.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats will also move another bill in the House on Tuesday calling for an election. The party wants the snap election to take place on December 9.
Earlier, Johnson had said that the vote on December 12 was a part of his new Brexit timetable, adding he wanted to dissolve the Parliament after November 6 for poll campaigning.
More From This Section
This comes hours after EU leaders approved the UK's request for a three-month extension to the Brexit process, meaning that the country would not leave the bloc on Thursday as per the previous deadline.
Announcing the same on Twitter, Donald Tusk, the president of the EU Council, said that bloc's 27 remaining leaders agreed to a "flextension" until January 2020, adding that the decision must still be formalised through a written procedure.
"The EU27 has agreed that it will accept the UK's request for a #Brexit flextension until 31 January 2020. The decision is expected to be formalised through a written procedure," he said.
The delay, granted for the third time by the EU this year, will be cut short if British Prime Minister Boris Johnson passes his exit deal before January 2020.
A Downing Street source told CNN that the new Brexit deal agreed between Johnson and EU will not be brought back to Parliament as MPs continue to debate on an early election.
It may be noted that the lawmakers have already rejected the agreement earlier this month.