FALSE: Al Jazeera has not announced that Prime Minister Abiy is leading in the Ethiopian election
A Facebook post claiming that the global media organisation, Al Jazeera has confirmed that Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, is leading in the 21 June, 2021, Ethiopian general election is FALSE.
The post, shared on election day in Amharic, claims in part, “Al Jazeera media said it has confirmed that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is leading in today’s election”.
The post also congratulates Ethiopians for the claimed victory in the election.
Ethiopia conducted its sixth general elections on 21 June, 2021.
The election was conducted amidst security and logistical challenges, notably the war in the Tigray region where the United Nations has said residents need urgent emergency food aid.
Instability in Benishangul Gumuz region, home to the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (GERD) and in western Oromia region has also posed challenges for the electoral body.
Similarly, the major opposition parties, particularly from Oromo, the major ethic group, namely Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), boycotted the election citing intimidation.
The communications advisor of National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), Soliyana Shimelis, told journalists during a press conference on 22 June, 2021, that votes are being counted and specific results posted at polling stations. The board, she said, expects consolidated results to be available at the central office within five days.
“The final verification will be done at the central office of the board followed by a preliminary result announcement,” Soliyana added.
In the same press conference, the board affirmed that preliminary results will be announced by the NEBE alone.
A review of Al Jazeera website, Facebook and Twitter pages, shows the media house carried no such story about the Ethiopian election results.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post claiming Al Jazeera has confirmed that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is leading in the 21 June, 2021, Ethiopian general election and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Tolera Gemta and edited by PesaCheck deputy editor Eden Berhane, and chief copy editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by managing editor Enock Nyariki.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.