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  • 2022-12-19 (xsd:date)
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  • Old photo of Fijian ruling party politician on visit to ballot printing press misleads ahead of polls (en)
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  • Ahead of a general election in Fiji, an old photo circulated in misleading online posts that claimed it shows the general secretary of the ruling FijiFirst party Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum visiting a ballot printing facility shortly before the polls . It surfaced after the opposition party accused Sayed-Khaiyum of visiting the facility in the weeks before the vote . T he picture was in fact taken during Sayed-Khaiyum's visit to a ballot printing facility in 2019. The Facebook post was published on December 7, 2022 , a week before Fijians went to the polls. As of December 19, no party has won a clear majority in the election, and the next prime minister and government are not likely to be decided for at least two weeks. Sitiveni Rabuka, the head of the opposition National Federation Party (NFP), hopes to unseat the incumbent Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and end his 16 years in power. Fijian police have summoned Rabuka for questioning after he repeatedly complained about anomalies in the election results and asked the military to step in, AFP reported . The misleading post shared an image of Sayed-Khaiyum -- who is also Fiji's Attorney General -- visiting a ballot printing facility. From Intel Source. Terrorist/Bomb Maker Aiyaz Sayed Kaiyum visit Star Printery Directors Mr Sandeep and Vikesh Chauhaun at warehouse, reads the caption on the Facebook post, which misspelled Sayed-Khaiyum's name. A screengrab of the Facebook post as of December 14, 2022. It surfaced online as Sayed-Khaiyum was accused by the NFP of visiting Star Printery in the Fijian capital of Suva-- where ballot papers for the election were printed -- weeks before the poll on December 1. The NFP also alleged officials from the Fijian Elections Office (FEO) requested him to leave the facility as ballot papers were being printed at that moment but he refused. Sayed-Khaiyum denied the claim and said there was no evidence to support the accusation against him. The FEO also said in a statement published on one of its Facebook pages that the NFP's accusations were false, as printing of the ballot papers had concluded at the Star Printery on November 28, 2022. Multinational Observer Group -- a regional body co-ordinated by Australia, India and Indonesia tasked with overseeing the election -- said it was aware of the accusation, but added its aim was only to observe and not investigate electoral processes. Some users appeared to believe the photo reflects the NFP's accusations and shows Sayed-Khaiyum visited the facility in early December. Multinational Observer Group - Fiji Election 2022 any comment on this?? Is this even allowed?? one user said. Can we arrest him now please, another said. But the image in the misleading posts was actually taken in 2019. Old visit A reverse image search on Google found the picture was first published in an article by the Fiji Sun on December 5, 2019. The headline reads: A-G Commends Star Printery's New $5M Environment Friendly Venture. The article covered Sayed-Khaiyum's visit, which was following Star Printery's venture into printing and manufacturing paper products such as bags, food packaging and straws. Below is a screenshot comparison of the picture in the misleading posts (left) and in the Fiji Sun article (right): Screengrab comparison of the picture as seen in the misleading post (left) and in the Fiji Sun article (right). The Fiji Times and the Fijian government's YouTube channel also published separate reports on Sayed-Khaiyum's visit to the facility. Fijian broadcaster FBC also quoted Sayed-Khaiyum on December 4 saying the photo was taken in 2019 when he visited the facility for some other work, nothing to do with ballot papers. (en)
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