(Photo: CGTN)

Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be announced as Britain's new prime minister on Tuesday, July 23, the Conservative Party said Tuesday.

The party said a postal ballot of the 160,000 or so Conservative Party members to decide who will replace Theresa May as leader would close on July 22 with the winner announced the following day.

Postal ballots will be sent out between July 6 and 8, and the deadline for returning them has been set at 5:00 p.m. on July 22.

"The announcement of the next leader of the Conservative party will be made on July 23. This process has been agreed with both candidates," the statement said.

Johnson and Hunt emerged last Thursday as the only two candidates left in the race to become British prime minister.

Johnson was way out in front with 160 out of 313 votes, while Hunt gained 77 votes.

Once a successor is confirmed, May would be expected to visit Queen Elizabeth II to formally tender her resignation as prime minister. Her replacement would then make another visit to Buckingham Palace to be confirmed in office.

The Conservatives do not have a majority in parliament's lower House of Commons, but govern through an alliance with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

May announced her resignation last month after failing to get her Brexit deal through parliament, faced with opposition from both Conservative MPs and the DUP. It is possible that the main opposition Labour Party calls an immediate vote of confidence in the new prime minister, to force them to prove they have the support to govern.

This would have to happen by July 25 when parliament breaks for its summer holiday, or wait until MPs return on September 3.