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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Elections & voting fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about elections & voting. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,413 published reviews in this topic

Folha de S.PauloElections & voting

Trecho de vídeo, retirado de contexto, em que Ciro Gomes afirma que o “Brasil está na iminência de sofrer a maior fraude eleitoral”. A publicação voltou a circular nas redes sociais no dia 24 de julho, em postagens com a afirmação “Ciro avisou”, sugerindo desconfiança em relação aos resultados do processo eleitoral brasileiro.

Publisher’s rating: Enganoso

The video excerpt showed Ciro Gomes, then a presidential candidate, saying on September 26, 2022, that Brazil was “on the brink of suffering the greatest electoral fraud in our history.” The claim that this meant he had foreseen fraud in the election misrepresents what he was discussing. In the longer “Manifesto à Nação” speech, Gomes was criticizing his opponents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro and what he called “electoral fraud” against voters who chose either candidate. He explicitly distinguished this from a supposed fraud in electronic voting machines, calling that allegation a lie invented by Bolsonaro, and said the machines were inviolable. The investigation describes the circulated clip as four seconds taken from an 11-minute address. It reports that the excerpt recirculated in July 2023 with wording implying Gomes already knew of alleged election fraud. The full passage instead says that voters choosing Lula or Bolsonaro would, in Gomes’s view, be electing people associated with past governments he accused of looting the country. That context makes his use of “fraud” a political accusation about the choices facing voters—not a warning that the electoral system or vote count would be fraudulent. To check the clip, the reporting team first examined posts on Telegram and Twitter, searched for Gomes’s statement using terms including his name and “electoral fraud,” and located coverage containing its context and the full speech. It then found the original video on Gomes’s official YouTube account and compared the social-media excerpt with the speech. The investigation also reports that the same statement had circulated since the day after the address. This evidence supports the conclusion that the short excerpt changes the meaning of Gomes’s remarks when presented as a prediction of election fraud.

dpaElections & voting

Alle Wahlen nichtig nach Urteil des Bundesverfassungsgerichts

Publisher’s rating: Nein. Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat im Jahr 2012 eine damals noch nicht angewandte Fassung des Bundeswahlgesetzes für nichtig erklärt. Auf die Gültigkeit früherer Wahlen hatte das keine Auswirkungen.

The claim comes from a social-media video headed “Bundesverfassungsgericht” that presents the words “Alle Wahlen nichtig” as the announcement of a court ruling. The dpa review identifies the footage as the announcement by then-president Andreas Voßkuhle of a decision concerning Germany’s federal election law. It reports that the recording came from a live broadcast by phoenix and was about eleven years old when the review was written. The decision was issued on 25 July 2012. The court found the version of the Federal Election Act reformed in 2011 unconstitutional and void, but that version had not yet been applied in a federal election. According to the court spokesperson quoted by dpa, the case concerned only the provisions in the 2011 version. The ruling therefore did not invalidate earlier elections. The dispute concerned rules for allocating seats in the Bundestag, especially the “negative vote weight” effect and its connection to overhang seats. The review also explains that declaring a law void does not automatically invalidate all decisions previously made under it. It notes that election validity is decided through a separate election-review procedure, and that even a finding of an error in such a proceeding does not necessarily make an election invalid.

FACTLYElections & voting

The Election Commission of India has announced 2023 election dates for the states of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns whether the Election Commission of India had announced 2023 assembly election dates for Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana. The review explains that the viral notice was an ECI instruction to officials in those states, not an election schedule. The dates in that notice referred to when the current legislatures’ terms would end, and were misread as polling dates. It says Mizoram’s legislature term would end in December 2023 and the other four states’ terms in January 2024. The review describes the ECI as having begun the election process, including issuing instructions about transfers and postings of officials and earlier instructions about revising voter lists. But it says that, at the time of the review, the Commission had not announced election dates. The distinction is between preparatory steps and a formal schedule: the reported dates in the circulating notice concerned legislative terms, not when voters would cast ballots. The article was subsequently updated to record a change in circumstances. It says that on 11 October 2023 the ECI announced assembly election dates for all five states, and that Rajasthan’s polling date was later changed from 23 to 25 November because of large-scale wedding and social engagements. Thus the review’s original assessment describes the situation before the announcement; the update documents the later schedule and a subsequent adjustment.

Fact Crescendo CambodiaElections & voting

លោក នី ណាក់ មិន​ចូល​រួម​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​ឆ្នាំ​២០២៣ ហើយ​សង្កេត​ឃើញ​ថា ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​ចេញ​ទៅ​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​មាន​ចំនួន​កាន់​តែ​តិចទៅៗ។

Publisher’s rating: False

The claim attached a photo of Ny Nak showing an uninked finger to a message suggesting that few people had turned out for Cambodia’s 2023 national election. The post appeared a few hours after election day and implied that Ny Nak had witnessed low turnout. Fact Crescendo investigated whether the photo and its implied account referred to that election.

Fact Crescendo CambodiaElections & voting

គណៈកម្មាធិការ​ជាតិ​រៀបចំ​ការ​បោះ​ឆ្នោត បាន​តម្រូវ​ឱ្យ​អ្នក​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​ផ្តិត​មេដៃ​នៅ​លើ​សន្លឹក​ឆ្នោត ដែល​អាច​ឱ្យ​គេ​ដឹង​ពី​អត្ត​សញ្ញាណ​អ្នក​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​ណា​ដែល​បាន​គូស​សន្លឹក​ឆ្នោត​ចោល​នៅ​ពេល​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​ថ្ងៃ​អាទិត្យ​ចុង​សប្ដាហ៍​នេះ។

Publisher’s rating: False

Folha de S.PauloElections & voting

Post no Twitter diz que o jornal “Financial Times afirma categoricamente que o governo americano interferiu nas eleições brasileiras para ajudar Lula”.

Publisher’s rating: Enganoso

The post attributed to the Financial Times the categorical claim that the U.S. government interfered in Brazil’s election to help Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The review says the British newspaper’s June 21 report, translated by Folha, described a year-long U.S. effort to protect Brazil’s electoral system and the election result from a possible attempt to overturn them—not an effort to secure a particular candidate’s victory. [S1: “reportagem publicada pelo veículo em 21 de junho deste ano e traduzida pela Folha diz que houve uma campanha do governo do presidente Joe Biden para preservar o sistema eleitoral brasileiro e o resultado das eleições de uma possível tentativa de golpe.”] The review describes that effort as discreet pressure on political and military leaders to respect the vote. It also quotes the report’s account that Washington was neutral about the election’s outcome but would not tolerate attempts to challenge the voting process or result. The review says the article explicitly stated that the actions were not intended to benefit either presidential candidate. [S1: “houve uma ‘discreta campanha de pressão’ feita pelo governo dos Estados Unidos ao longo de um ano para incentivar líderes políticos e militares a respeitar o resultado das urnas.”] [S1: “Washington tinha posição neutra quanto ao resultado da eleição, mas não toleraria qualquer tentativa de questionamento do processo de votação ou do resultado”] The review further explains the context given for the U.S. effort: concern in the Biden administration that Brazil might experience an event like the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. It quotes former U.S. official and ambassador to Brazil Michael McKinley characterizing the strategy as focused on the electoral process working, rather than supporting one Brazilian candidate over another. Taken together, the cited report describes safeguarding the process, not intervening to help Lula win; the post’s wording changes that distinction. [S1: “mas sim uma resposta a um receio da administração Biden de que pudesse haver no Brasil um evento como o que ocorreu no Capitólio, nos Estados Unidos, em 6 de janeiro de 2021.”] [S1: “Foi quase um ano inteiro de estratégia colocada em prática com um objetivo muito específico em vista —não de apoiar um candidato brasileiro ou outro, mas focada fortemente no processo eleitoral, em assegurar que o processo funcionasse”]