By Leenah Wahab

Colombo, August 28 (Daily Mirror) – Former Election Commission chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said it was difficult to distinguish between real and fake opinion polls and hence voters should be careful to distinguish fact from fiction.

In his remarks to the Daily Mirror, he said that opinion polls allegedly attributed to the European Union (EU) and circulating on social media violated the rules and regulations of the electoral process.

The EU issued a statement saying it had not conducted any exit polls and that the polls being circulated were false. The Electoral Commission also urged voters to be aware of misinformation when making their voting decisions and not to be misled by manipulated reports.

“It’s a marketing campaign,” Deshapriya said. “They don’t publish details about how they select people for these polls. The purpose of these fake polls is to increase their electorate. Through promotions and demotions, they gain votes while someone else drops out,” he said.

He also said voter manipulation through misinformation risks sowing distrust and obscuring the truth on important sociopolitical issues. “It is difficult to distinguish between fake and real opinion polls, and it is up to the general population to distinguish fact from fiction.”