GR translation: there is a new election, a new preterition abroad

[Mike Jing]

P15.28-35   . . . before long, tophats are littering the squares of
Mayfair, cheap perfume hanging ownerless in the pub lights of the East
End as the Adenoid continues on its rampage, not swallowing up its
victims at random, no, the fiendish Adenoid has a master plan, it’s
choosing only certain personalities useful to it—there is a new
election, a new pretention abroad in England here that throws the Home
Office into hysterical and painful episodes of indecision . . . no one
knows what to do . . .

What is this new election and preterition referring to?  Why is the
preterition "abroad"?