False election claim made on Facebook

False election claim made on Facebook
Photo: AFP

An image that claims to show strong support for Myanmar’s ruling party in early overseas voting in South Korea has been shared thousands of times on Facebook.

The claim is false: overseas voter registration was still ongoing when the misleading posts were published; Myanmar’s Election Commission has not announced the official early voting date; Myanmar’s Embassy in Seoul said the final overseas voter lists would not be announced until October 2020.

The image was published on Facebook on August 16, 2020. It has been shared more than 400 times.

It shows a screenshot of a purported Facebook post alongside a Burmese-language caption which translates to English as: “Early vote result in South Korea. Original source #crd".

It also includes an image that shows three political parties’ logos and the purported early vote result: 1 vote for USDP, 118 vote for NLD and 1 vote for PPP.