Twitter announces election results
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 5:46 am
Even before the polling stations closed, election results from the German federal states of Saarland, Thuringia and Saxony were already being circulated on Twitter.
Two users tweeted election results at amazon data around 4:30 p.m. According to Spiegel Online , the figures published resembled voting intention surveys from market research institutes, which are used to make initial forecasts and estimates. However, these figures were not allowed to be published on the day they were published. Early publication of such data carries a fine of up to 50,000 euros in Germany.
The electoral director of the state of Sachsen (Saxony), Uwe Reimund Korzen-Krüger, has announced that he has taken legal action to check whether the published data is based on survey results. The electoral director for the upcoming German general election has warned that such actions could face serious consequences: the election results could be challenged if it is suspected that data released on election day could have influenced the outcome.
One of the Twitter accounts from which the data was disseminated was that of Patrick Rudolph, the regional chairman of the CDU party in Saxony, the party of current German chancellor Angela Merkel. The politician has stated that he has not used that account and has also deleted it. The television channel ARD has denied the suspicion that the figures disseminated were its own election forecasts, made by Infratest Dimap, due to the few people who had access to them and because the data do not exactly match.
Two users tweeted election results at amazon data around 4:30 p.m. According to Spiegel Online , the figures published resembled voting intention surveys from market research institutes, which are used to make initial forecasts and estimates. However, these figures were not allowed to be published on the day they were published. Early publication of such data carries a fine of up to 50,000 euros in Germany.
The electoral director of the state of Sachsen (Saxony), Uwe Reimund Korzen-Krüger, has announced that he has taken legal action to check whether the published data is based on survey results. The electoral director for the upcoming German general election has warned that such actions could face serious consequences: the election results could be challenged if it is suspected that data released on election day could have influenced the outcome.
One of the Twitter accounts from which the data was disseminated was that of Patrick Rudolph, the regional chairman of the CDU party in Saxony, the party of current German chancellor Angela Merkel. The politician has stated that he has not used that account and has also deleted it. The television channel ARD has denied the suspicion that the figures disseminated were its own election forecasts, made by Infratest Dimap, due to the few people who had access to them and because the data do not exactly match.