Image shows postal votes for ticket backed by Sri Lankan YouTuber, not total votes

"Ashen's eight votes," read part of the Sinhala-language caption to two images shared on Facebook on November 15, 2024.

The images show popular Sri Lankan YouTuber Ashen Senarathna posing with his wife, and what appears to be the vote count for "Independent Group 15" (archived link).

The caption added that the votes were from "Ashen, his wife, his mother, his father, his wife's mother, his wife's father, the person who records his videos and the person who edits his videos". 

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Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on November 26, 2024

Similar posts were also shared elsewhere on Facebook here and here.

The claim circulated while votes were still being counted after snap parliamentary elections called by Dissanayake, who swept into power in September on a promise to combat graft and recover stolen assets in the bankrupt island nation still reeling from a financial crisis that imposed widespread hardships (archived link).

His decision to call for the elections nearly 10 months ahead of schedule to secure parliamentary backing for his agenda was vindicated with his National People's Power coalition taking 159 seats in the 225-member assembly (archived link).

But the vote count shared in the misleading posts included only postal votes cast for the ticket backed by Senarathna -- the group actually ended up with 1,792 votes. 

Nomination rejected

Local media reported that Senarathna, who had announced plans to take part in the elections and seek a seat in the Colombo district, had had his nomination rejected by the Election Commission because it was handed in by another candidate (archived link).

His appeal against the decision was also rejected by the country's Supreme Court (archived link).

Senarathna instead campaigned for a group of candidates called "Independent Group 15" (archived link).

An official list of candidates released by the Election Commission on October 11 does not contain Senarathna's name (archived link).

Official results on the commission's website show that the ticket received 1,792 votes in total, including the eight postal votes shown in the misleading posts (archived links here and here).

The photo of Senarathna and his wife in the posts suggests the couple voted in person rather than using a postal ballot.

Only officials engaged in election duties or essential services, or personnel -- such as the police or Civil Defence Force -- involved in security duties are permitted to vote by post (archived link).

A reverse search on Google led to the same photo shared on the YouTuber's Facebook and Instagram pages alongside the hashtag "Just Voted" (archived links here and here).

In the photo, Senarathna and his wife are holding up their left index fingers, which had been marked with indelible ink to show they have cast their ballots (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison between the image used in the misleading posts (left) and the image posted on Senarathna's Facebook page (right)

AFP has debunked other misinformation about the parliamentary elections here.