London (AP) – Great -Britain will lower the voting age from 18 to 16 with the following national election As part of measures to increase democratic participation, the government announced on Thursday.
The Center-Linkse Labor Party promised before it was chosen in July 2024 To lower the voting age before elections at the Parliament of Great Britain. Scotland and Wales have already had 16 and 17 year olds vote for local and regional elections.
Great -Britain will participate in the shortlist of countries where the voting age is 16, in addition to Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. A handful of countries of the European Union, including Belgium, Germany and Malta, allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections to the European Parliament.
In addition to broader reforms, including the tightening of campaign funding rules, the move comes to prevent Shell companies with dark ownership of donating to political parties. Minister of Democracy Rushanara Ali said that the change against foreign interference in British politics would strengthen.
There will also be more difficult penalties for people who have been convicted of intimidating candidates.
Moreover, the government said that automatic voter registration will introduce and enables voters to use bank cards as a form of identification at polling stations.
Introduced the previous conservative government A requirement for voters to show photo -identification In 2022 a measure would fight fraud. Critics claimed that it could deprive millions of voters, in particular the young, the poor and members of ethnic minorities.
Elections Waakhond The Elections Committee estimates that around 750,000 people did not vote for last year’s elections because they did not have an ID.
The turnout in the 2024 elections was 59.7%, the lowest level in more than two decades.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, head of the left-wing think tank The Institute for Public Policy Research Institute, said that the changes “were the greatest reform of our election system since 1969”, when the voting age was reduced to 18 from 21.
The changes must be approved by the parliament. The following national elections must be held by 2029.
“For too long, public confidence in our democracy has been damaged and confidence in our institutions is allowed to refuse,” said Vice Prime Minister Angela Rayner. “We take action to break barriers to participate in that ensure that more people get the chance to participate in British democracy.”
Stuart Fox, politics teacher at the University of Exeter who has studied youth voices, said that it is “far from clear” whether to lower the voting age actually increases the involvement of young people.
“It’s good to help young people to be heard,” he said. “But there are other measures that are more effective to let young people vote – especially those of the poorest backgrounds that vote by far the least probably – such as strengthening the citizenship curriculum or expanding the provision of volunteer programs in schools.”
(Copyright (C) 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
#Great #Britain #voting #age #attempt #strengthen #democracy #Boston #News #Weather #Sports #WHDH #7News