A series of posts had been exchanged since the night before the election, indicating that Paffrel, Sri Lanka\u2019s leading election monitoring group, had stated that it had not received any complaints regarding the misuse of state property in the 2025 local government elections. Here is how we investigated that claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social Media Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A social media post was posted stating that the Paffrel organisation had said, “This is the first election in history where state property was not misused.” (<\/strong>\u0dbb\u0dcf\u0da2\u0dca\u0dba <\/strong>\u0daf\u0dda\u0db4\u0dc5 \u0d85\u0dc0\u0db7\u0dcf\u0dc0\u0dd2\u0dad\u0dcf \u0db1\u0ddc\u0d9a\u0dc5, \u0d89\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dc4\u0dcf\u0dc3\u0dba\u0dda \u0db4\u0dc5\u0db8\u0dd4 \u0db8\u0dd0\u0dad\u0dd2\u0dc0\u0dbb\u0dab\u0dba \u0db8\u0dd9\u0dba\u0dba\u0dd2\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook<\/a> | Archived Link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n We took steps to conduct a fact-check to determine whether the above statement is true and whether the Paffrel organisation has made such a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, we checked the mainstream media to see if such news was reported regarding a statement made by the Paffrel organisation, but we were unable to find such reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, we could find that Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of the Paffrel Organisation, had told the media that by mid-April, around 20 incidents of misuse of state power and state property were reported regarding this year\u2019s local government elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He pointed out that among them are reports regarding the use of government vehicles, several promotions of officials, and government subsidy projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/srilanka.factcrescendo.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/image-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFact Check:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n