FALSE

With the Philippine presidential race in full swing, a video surfaced in Facebook and TikTok posts viewed more than one million times that claimed it showed an official ballot paper “leaked” by the election commission Comelec. However, a spokesman for the watchdog said the video showed a sample ballot. The document was missing various features of the official ballot design for the May elections.

“Be alert. Let’s not shade any ballot before election day. Why is there a leaked ballot paper from Comelec?” reads a Tagalog-language Facebook post from March 29.

The two-minute video, viewed more than 580,000 times, shows a close-up of a ballot paper, with two women talking in the background.

However, the claim is false.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez referred AFP to a tweet from March 30 in which he said the video did not show an official ballot paper.

Read the full story on AFP Fact Check.

AFP launched its digital verification service in France in 2017 and has grown to become the leading global fact-checking organisation, with dedicated journalists in countries from the United States to the Philippines. Our journalists monitor online content in local languages. They take into account local cultures, languages and politics and work with AFP’s bureaus worldwide to investigate and disprove false information, focusing on items that can be harmful, impactful and manipulative.