Boris Johnson forgets document and is unable to vote in UK elections

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away from a polling station while trying to vote in the UK's local elections. He forgot to bring a photo ID – a requirement he introduced himself when he was prime minister.

Staff were forced to block the former first minister as he tried to vote in south Oxfordshire, the PA news agency reported.

Johnson later returned with the necessary ID and was able to vote.

The new rules requiring photo ID to vote were introduced by Johnson's Conservative government in the 2022 Electoral Act.

The law was widely criticized when it was introduced. The UK Electoral Commission warned in 2023 that the law could exclude hundreds of thousands of people from voting and particularly affect the unemployed or members of ethnic minorities.

A report by a cross-party group of members of Parliament warned in March that millions of voters were at risk of being disenfranchised in the next general election due to the country's voter registration system.

He said the voter ID requirement “has left individuals without correct identification unable to vote and only a number of forms of identification being permitted.”

Among those turned away from polling stations was army veteran Adam Diver, who said he was “devastated” when he was unable to vote and his veteran ID card was not accepted.

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer apologized to Diver.

“Legislation on acceptable forms of identification was published before veterans' ID cards began to be rolled out in January of this year. I’ll do everything I can to change that before the next one,” Mercer said.

Local elections were held across the country for more than 100 councils and several mayors on Thursday (2).

With around a third of the results declared, the Conservatives lost more than 100 local council seats and one parliamentary seat.

The results also mean that if a general election were held tomorrow, the opposition Labor Party would almost certainly win power.

Source: CNN Brasil

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