A vote was held for members of the British Conservative Party to elect the new leader of the formation to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister. Postponed after identifying risk of hacking on election platformreported the newspaper “The Telegraph” this Wednesday.
About 160,000 members were to receive their ballots by mail this week, but the process suffered a delay following a warning from the government. National Cyber Security Center (NCSC, English), adds the newspaper.
NCSC is part of the British listening center GCHQ, one of the three secret services in the UK, along with internal MI5 and external MI6.
Members are expected can start voting from the next day 11in order to know the winner of the leadership – Rishi Sunak (former Minister of Economy) or Liz Truss (Head of State) – on September 5.
According to the voting scheme, members would receive a ballot by mail with a specific code, which they could then use to vote by mail or online.
As the “Daily Telegraph” learned, there were fears that “disgraceful actors” could change the votes of large numbers of party members, and this could have consequences for this democratic process.
“To defend UK democracy and the electoral process is a priority We are working closely with all parliamentary political parties, local authorities and lawmakers to provide cybersecurity guidance and support for the NCSC and to provide cybersecurity guidance and support,” an NCSC spokesperson told the newspaper.
Apparently, again according to the newspaper, there was no particular threat from a hostile state, but It was a general warning about the fragility of the voting process.
The newspaper said that in other elections, countries such as China, Russia and Iran were accused of trying to influence votes, as in the 2020 US presidential election.
The newspaper adds that affiliates received notification of the delay on Tuesday.
According to the latest poll by YouGov on voting intentions among party members, Cage gets the most support By getting 60% boost compared to 26% of the Altar.
Supporters of the latter say Truss’s move should the Conservatives vote quickly. would be most preferred.
Johnson resigned last July after more than 50 members of his government resigned to protest scandals that have tarnished his administration and leadership, such as parties at the Downing Street official residence during the pandemic.
Source: Informacion
