False claims that a political party and a municipal ballot counting system were involved in fraud spread on social media after the Feb. 8 House of Representatives election. Such allegations could undermine the election’s credibility, and voters are being urged to verify sources to avoid being misled.
Posts on X such as “Team Mirai’s [election] results are highly unnatural” and “The big gains by the party are proof of election fraud” went viral for about a week after the vote, conveying skepticism about the vote tally for Team Mirai, which achieved a significant gain of 11 seats in the lower house election.
One post stated: “Where did those votes come from? The party didn’t field any candidates in Hyogo Prefecture.” Team Mirai did not field candidates in single-seat constituencies in the prefecture, but gained over 150,000 votes in the proportional representation race.
This post had been viewed 4.4 million times as of Feb. 19.
Team Mirai’s received 6.36% of the votes in the proportional representation sector in Hyogo Prefecture, compared to 6.66% nationally. Exit polls conducted in the prefecture by The Yomiuri Shimbun and others on election day also indicated that 7% voted for Team Mirai in the proportional representation race, matching this figure closely.
A representative from the prefecture’s election administration commission told The Yomiuri Shimbun that it had received no reports about cheating.
University of Tokyo Prof. Fujio Toriumi analyzed 83,000 posts that...
False claims that a political party and a municipal ballot counting system were involved in fraud spread on social media after the Feb. 8 House of Representatives election. Such allegations could ...