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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.

5,414 published reviews in this topic

FactRakersElections & voting

Saudi towers light up red as support for Marcos bid

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a photo of Riyadh’s Kingdom Tower lit red, shared by the Facebook page OFW ng Middle East as evidence of support for Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s presidential candidacy. The review says the post appeared on May 9 and quoted its caption as saying the tower “supports BBM.” The relevant question is whether the red lighting showed political support, rather than simply whether the tower appeared red. (S1: “Facebook page OFW ng Middle East posted on May 9 a photo of Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower lit up red and claims that it is in support of Marcos’ candidacy.”) The review gives evidence that red illumination was not unique to Marcos or his campaign: it reports that the tower had flashed red before Marcos announced his presidential bid. It also cites ColorKinetics, the company contracted to redo the tower’s lights, describing a system that allows the architecture to display different color combinations on different nights. That history and lighting capability undermine the post’s inference that red alone signified endorsement. (S1: “Even before Marcos announced his presidential bid, the Kingdom Tower flashed red lights. ColorKinetics, the company contracted to re-do the tower lights said this regarding the project: Countless color combinations allow for the distinctive architecture to glow with a unique identity each night.”) As examples of other uses of the lighting, the review says the tower flashed red and green in 2016 to mark the United Arab Emirates’ 45th national day and red in 2019 in celebration of Sudan. These examples support the review’s conclusion that the photo’s red lighting does not establish support for Marcos. The excerpt does not identify who selected the specific red lighting in the photo or provide independent verification of the post’s image; its stated reasoning rests on the tower’s prior lighting uses and its capacity for varied color displays. (S1: “In 2016, the tower flashed red and green lights to celebrate the United Arab Emirates’ 45th national day of celebration. According to Twitter user @hash_sudan, the tower also flashed red lights in celebration of Sudan in 2019.”)

dpaElections & voting

Screenshots zeigen, dass bei der französischen Präsidentschaftswahl über 2 Millionen Stimmen für Marine Le Pen verschwunden sind.

Publisher’s rating: Bei der französischen Präsidentschaftswahl sind keine zwei Millionen Wählerstimmen für Marine Le Pen verschwunden. Die Angabe der Wählerstimmen in der Fernsehsendung war falsch. Der Sender France 2 entschuldigte sich später für den nach eigenen Angaben technischen Fehler bei der Übertragung von Daten des Innenministeriums. Einen Beleg für Wahlbetrug stellt die Panne nicht dar.

The claim concerns screenshots from France 2’s election-night broadcast, which social-media users cited as evidence that more than two million votes for Marine Le Pen had vanished. The review identifies the displayed figures as broadcast graphics, not official vote totals: it says the screenshots “stammen von einer Wahlsendung des öffentlich-rechtlichen Senders France 2” and that the broadcaster acknowledged a “Computerfehler” had caused incorrect figures to be shown. France 2’s explanation, as reported in the review, was that software displaying Interior Ministry data counted votes from certain municipalities twice for both candidates. The review also reports that the broadcaster said the Interior Ministry had never attributed 14 million votes to Le Pen. Thus, the screenshots document erroneous on-air figures, but do not establish that votes disappeared from the official count. The review compared the broadcast claim with records of the official count and with figures reported by AFP. An archived Interior Ministry page saved at 21:42 showed 9.7 million votes for Emmanuel Macron and 8.7 million for Le Pen, with 58 percent counted. AFP’s data from the ministry showed 5.44 million for Le Pen and 5.41 million for Macron at about 21:15. Later, at 22:32, the archived official page showed 13.7 million for Macron and 11.3 million for Le Pen, with 79 percent counted. These records do not match the much higher figures in the broadcast screenshots. The review notes inconsistencies in the social-media post itself: its stated interval was longer than 60 minutes, and it gave two different vote totals for 22:45. It reports that Macron ultimately received about 18.8 million votes and Le Pen about 13.3 million. Taken together, the documented broadcast error and the checked official and agency figures do not support the allegation that millions of Le Pen votes disappeared.

Fact CrescendoElections & voting

ഇപ്പോള്‍ സിപിഎം പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ച ഡോ. ജോ ജോസഫ് 2021 നിയമസഭ തെരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പില്‍ 20-20ക്ക് വേണ്ടി എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയിലെ തന്നെ കോതമംഗലം നിയോജക മണ്ഡലത്തില്‍ സ്ഥാനാര്‍ത്ഥിയായിരുന്നു

Publisher’s rating: FALSE