Earlier in the day, Liz Truss announced her resignation, less than two months after her appointment as leader of the Conservative Party and head of the UK government, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in the UK history. Truss will remain in office until her successor is elected.
As of 20:30 GMT, as many as 251,000 people signed the petition calling for an election, since Truss's resignation means that a new Prime Minister will once again be elected only by members of the Conservative party that still has the majority of seats in the UK House of Commons, but is currently losing to the Labour party by over 30% in polls.
"Who is leading our country should be decided in a general election, not in the strange bubble of yet another Conservative leadership election," David Marley, the acting editor of The Independent, wrote in the petition.
Truss's government has been harshly criticized for its economic policy that proved unable to curb inflation and price hikes, as well as sparked concerns about an increase in public debt. The so-called mini-budget was presented on September 23 by then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who had to step down last Friday.
After the plan's announcement, the yield on five-year UK government bonds rose to its highest level since 2008, at 4.6%, which meant a decrease in demand for debt securities. Consequently, sterling fell to an all-time low of $1.054 per pound.