Jeremy Corbyn’s successor as Labour leader will be announced on April 4 after a three-month contest, the party’s ruling body has decided.
Nominations for the race to replace Corbyn will open formally on Tuesday, with the ballot taking place between February 21 to April 2, the National Executive Committee (NEC) agreed on Monday.
The general public will be able to take part in the leadership election if they join the party by next week or if they pay £25 each to register for a one-off vote, the NEC decided.
A 48-hour window will be created to allow people to sign up as so-called registered supporters with voting rights.
Candidates will have just under a week to get the required nominations from fellow MPs. A further month will be allowed to get the necessary nominations from local parties and from trade unions and other groups.
A Labour party spokesperson said: Our National Executive Committee has agreed the timetable and process for the leadership and deputy leadership elections.
We are by far the largest political party in the UK with well over half a million members. We want as many of our members and supporters to take part, so it has been designed to be open, fair and democratic.
The full timetable is as follows:
Tuesday 7 January: Nominations open from MPs and MEPs.
Monday 13 January: Nominations from MPs and MEPs closes at 2.30pm.
Tuesday 14 January: Registered supporters applications open at 5pm.
Thursday 16 January: Registered supporters applications close at 5pm.
Wednesday 15 January: Second stage of nominations from Constituency Labour Parties and affiliates opens.
Monday 20 January: Freeze date for eligibility for new members and affiliated supporters, closes at 5pm.
Friday 14 February: Close of CLP and affiliate nominations.
Friday 21 February: Ballot opens.
Thursday 2 April: Ballot closes at 12pm.
Saturday 4 April: Special conference to announce results.
Nominations of candidates is a two-stage process.