Johnson gambles on an election to decide the fate of Brexit

LONDON: The fate of Britain's departure from the European Union could be decided in a Dec. 12 election after Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally won parliamentary approval for a gamble that he hopes will break the deadlock over Brexit. Johnson, who has failed to deliver on his "do or die" promise that Britain would leave the bloc on Oct. 31, secured the election agreement just hours after the EU granted a third delay to Brexit. The first Christmas election in Britain since 1923 will be one of the hardest to call in years. Brexit has variously fatigued, enthused and enraged swathes of voters while eroding loyalties to the two major parties.

When Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May, bet on an early election in 2017, she lost her slender majority in parliament - a failure that ultimately prevented her from ratifying her Brexit deal in parliament and sank her political career.

More voters switched between the two main parties at the 2017 election than in any ballot dating back to 1966, research by the British Election Study showed.

"It's time to unite the country and get Brexit done," Johnson told a meeting of Conservative lawmakers shortly after securing the election to cheers from a parliament he has accused of stopping him from delivering the divorce.

The election result, due to be announced in the early hours of Friday the 13th, could decide the ultimate fate of Brexit after almost four years of almost continuous political commotion in London that has shocked both investors and allies.

Johnson, 55, hopes to win a majority to push through the last-minute Brexit deal he struck this month with the European Union while his main opponent, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, is pitching a socialist government and another EU referendum. If no party wins conclusively, the future of Brexit will be thrown up in the air again with options ranging from a tumultuous no-deal exit to another referendum that could scupper the whole divorce. A five-year flurry of two historic referendums - on Scottish independence in 2014 and Brexit in 2016 - and two national elections in 2015 and 2017 delivered often unexpected results that ushered in political crises.