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Petition · past parliament

Make a General Election compulsory if a party in government changes its leader

Rejected 15 signatures

What the petition asks

Party membership is generally low in the UK. Such a small and ideologically narrow constituency shouldn't be sufficient to elect a new prime minister. If a party in power decides to change its leader, either via vote or handover, the country should be given the opportunity to mandate that decision.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

A change in prime minister should trigger a general election.

Timeline

7 Jul 2016 Petition opened for signatures
11 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 15
Status Rejected
Rejected 11 Jul 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.