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From the beginning of the 2024 General Election results, it was evident that the NPP or Jathika Jana Balawegaya had managed to secure an overwhelming majority. As a result, several social media posts predicted the final seat allocation of NPP, while some overestimated the final count. Let’s look at one such image-making round on WhatsApp.
Social Media Posts
A wave of claims claimed that the National People’s Power (NPP) won 173 seats in the 2024 General Election, including 20 seats from the National list. The post also indicated that SJB won only 29 seats, followed by 11 by NDF, 3 by ITAK, etc.
This image was viral among WhatsApp users.
We decided to do a fact-check on this.
Fact Check
Verified Results
The Sri Lankan Parliament has 225 seats: 196 are elected directly through constituencies, and 29 are distributed among political parties and independent groups as national list seats, calculated by the Election Commission after final vote tallies.
According to the final official election results, the NPP won 141 out of 196 parliamentary seats and 18 out of the 29 National list seats, making its total seat allocation 159.
On a similar note, the final seat allocations for SJB, NDF, and ITAK secured 40, 8, and 5 seats, respectively, which is different from the counts seen in the viral image. However, the final seat allocation number for SLPP is 3 in the official result sheet as well. The full result with seat allocation can be seen below.
http://srilanka.factcrescendo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/0210-PE1-N-1.pdf
The election results can be reached here and here.
Reasons for misleading claims!
We noticed that the misleading social media post was based on a projected assumption made by LAcNet Election Projection regarding the parliamentary election before the release of the final results.
They clarified this by explaining that the final confirmed information was entered only in the districts named “Final” in each district. Only Galle and Hambantota can be seen in the viral image with the “Final” status.
However, they have also updated the final results published by the Election Commission.
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Conclusion
This viral claim about the NPP winning 173 seats out of the total 225 parliamentary seat allocation is false. The correct figure, as confirmed by official election results, is 159. Similarly there were several other discrepancies of the viral image related to seat allocation of each of the key parties, as the image was a projection, and not the finalized version.
This fact-check aims to clarify the seat count and dispel any misunderstandings surrounding the election outcome.
Title:False Image Viral As Seat Allocation of General Election 2024! Find out the facts…
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: False
