A Facebook post has claimed the World Economic Forum, a not-for-profit foundation headquartered in Switzerland, is running the Victorian state election.
The claim is false. The post uses a tweet from a satirical Twitter account as the basis of its claim. State elections in Victoria are run by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC), an independent body established under the Electoral Act 2002.
The Facebook post (screenshot here) from October 30 uses a screenshot of an October 25 tweet from an account with the handle @auseconomicunit.
“@electionsvic have announced a historic partnership with @wef to oversee and count the votes in the 2022 Victorian State Election, with many other Australian states reportedly expressing interest in their services for future elections,” the tweet says above an image of people wearing photoshopped World Economic Forum badges counting votes.
The Facebook post of the tweet is topped with the statement: “The F***ing WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM is ruuning (sic) VIC Election!!! Told you its Fixed!!!”
The caption of the Facebook post reads: “Worldwide services by the WEF…is it any wonder how the same unpopular candidates get in…all rigged and Klause has told us up front and nothing is being done.”
Screenshots of the tweet have been shared widely on social media (see here and here).
However, the World Economic Forum is not involved in the election. The VEC has tweeted that social media posts linking the election to the forum are “completely false”.
“We are aware of a post circulating online that suggests we have partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to oversee the counting of votes. This is completely false. We have not partnered with the WEF or any other organisation to count votes for the State election,” it said in the tweet on November 2.
In a statement to AAP FactCheck, a representative added: “The VEC counts all lower house votes by hand, under the supervision of scrutineers appointed by each candidate.”
Founded in 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum’s stated aim is to bring together political, business and cultural leaders.
Mr Schwab and the forum have been the subject of many conspiracy theories, as explained here and here.
The tweet that the Facebook post uses was shared from an account with a bio that reads, “Fake News in the Economic Zone Formerly Known As Australia”. The page gives its location as “Great Southern Satire Province” and it regularly posts satirical takes on current events.
Other headlines on its Twitter feed include “Commonwealth Bank locks Sydney man out of account after exceeding weekly carbon footprint” and “Albanese to support Victorian flood victims by donating another $1 billion to the Ukraine“.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked other claims about the World Economic Forum and Mr Schwab.
The Verdict
A Facebook post’s claim the World Economic Forum is running the Victorian state election is false. The claim originated from a Twitter account which posts satirical fake news.
The Victorian Electoral Commission confirmed it has not partnered with the World Economic Forum or any other organisation to count votes in the election.
False – The claim is inaccurate.
* AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All information, text and images included on the AAP Websites is for personal use only and may not be re-written, copied, re-sold or re-distributed, framed, linked, shared onto social media or otherwise used whether for compensation of any kind or not, unless you have the prior written permission of AAP. For more information, please refer to our standard terms and conditions.
